Reincarnation of Ice Hiatus
by RKInu241
Summary: [Hiatus]Sequel to 'Frozen Memories'. Fifteen years after Hitsugaya's death, Matsumoto stumbles upon Hyuuga Toushirou, the reincarnation of her captain.
1. Chapter 1

_Yo Minna! I'm back again, this time with le sequel for 'Frozen Memories'! I reposted the final chapter for Frozen Memories, this time with a slightly longer ending. The reviews were a bit disappointing (as in the amount) but oh well, what's done is done. Reincarnation of Ice –yes, corny title- could be counted as semi-AU. But anyway, hope you guys like it as much as Frozen Memories. For now, enjoy the first chapter of Reincarnation of Ice!_

_Summary: Fifteen years after Hitsugaya Toushirou's death, Matsumoto stumbles upon Hyuuga Toushirou, the reincarnation of her captain. _

_Timeline: Semi-AU, post Arrancar arc_

_Genre: Drama, Angst_

_Beta: Yukiko Tsukishirou, BankotsuAngel and feathersnow_

_Disclaimer: I don't own, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto or anyone else from Bleach. However the storyline for this story and OCs belong to me rightfully.

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**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 1: Encounter in the Frozen Rain

Hyuuga Toushirou cursed his luck as the thunder clapped above him and rain fell in torrents like cats and dogs. He wondered wryly why he had been dumb enough not to bring an umbrella. He should have listened to his sister's advice. Shihou always knew when it would most likely rain. Right now, he wished fervently why he didn't have such a sixth sense.

Not that he lacked one, but still, hers really comes in handy at times like this.

Suddenly, a car zoomed by quickly, spraying water upwards at his direction and drenching him from head to toe. Shaking his head slightly to flail the water out of his hair in vain, Toushirou could have sworn seeing Nagaya in that car, laughing at his bad luck.

However, it was more likely a figment of his imagination. There was no training today so Nagaya wouldn't be traveling down this road at all. His house was on the

But still, Toushirou was sure that bastard would have loved seeing him in this kind of situation.

Cursing his luck again as the thunder clapped even more loudly and the rainfall became heavier, Toushirou picked up the pace and made a run for it.

Today was definitely one of the worst days of his life.

* * *

Sighing loudly, Matsumoto couldn't believe her luck. 

She had come to the Human World to visit Ichigo and his family in Tokyo on a suggestion from Kira to 'take a break'; after chatting with Rukia for a while, she had left the Kurosaki household and had been wandering around the streets of Tokyo when it had started to rain. Now she was taking shelter under the front porch of some closed shop lot with no distinct idea where the hell she was.

"You need to get out for a while Matsumoto-san. You seem so uptight and stressed after Hitsugaya-taichou died," Matsumoto muttered below her breath, mimicking the same tone of voice that Kira had used. She was definitely going to strangle him once she got back to Soul Society.

It had been fifteen years since Hitsugaya's death, and still she wasn't sure whether she had gotten over it. Nothing had changed much except that Rukia had come down from Soul Society to the Human World and had settled down to a house hold life, married and with kids. Ichigo had opened a clinic in Tokyo and now worked as a part time Shinigami captain, having the paperwork sent down to the Human world and Rukia helping him too.

They now had a pair of twins –a boy and a girl- which they named Kaien and Hisana. They were expecting another kid in three months and had confirmed the name of the girl- they found out about the gender while doing an ultrasound scan. They were going to call her Masaki in honor of Ichigo's mother, much to Isshin's delight.

The rain didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon, instead it was getting stronger by the second. Sighing again, Matsumoto wondered whether it was just her luck to get caught in the rain.

As she looked out at the rain, she spotted a figure rushing at her direction.

As the figure got closer, she was shocked.

The boy charged into the sheltered porch quickly. As soon as he reached he bent over, breathing heavily from all the running he had done. His white hair was rowdy, dripping wet matted down with rain water. His ocean blue eyes were wide like a child's, yet shown with deep understanding and wisdom. His frame was small, yet he wore the uniform of a high school student.

Matsumoto couldn't believe her eyes.

'_If we're lucky, let's meet again sometime.'_

He was the exact replica of Hitsugaya Toushirou.

After a while, the boy straightened, noticing Matsumoto's presence for the first time; eying her through the corner of his eye he gave her a curt nod, turning around to face the rain.

There was silence for a long time as neither said a word. Matsumoto was too surprised by the stranger's appearance and the stranger was worried about when the rain would let up. He looked at the rain with pure annoyance and clicked his tongue, checking his watch from time to time.

Matsumoto wanted to say something, but had no idea what to say. Instead, she stared at the mysterious boy. Upon noticing her gaze, he turned around to face her.

"Is there a problem?" He asked curtly, not even pretending to be polite.

It seems that he wasn't just like Hitsugaya in looks only, she mused. Even his attitude and mannerism were the same. Only when the boy cleared his throat did Matsumoto break out of her daze. "No… It's just… you look like someone I knew."

"Oh? And where is that person now?"

"He's dead," She said, in such a low voice it that was barely audible; but the stranger heard it clearly.

"Oh," He said, more subdued this time. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's nothing really."

"If you say so," the boy snorted slightly, turning his attention back to the rain that was beginning to lift lightly.

Another fifteen minutes passed before the rain finally became nothing but a drizzle. The boy immediately picked up his school bag, braving what was left of the rain and left the porch quickly before Matsumoto could even ask him what his name was.

Looking at the direction the stranger had left in, Matsumoto couldn't help but feel like fate was playing tricks on her.

* * *

_How's it? Is it good or bad? I hope it meets up to your expectations somewhat. The second chapter should be up sooner than you think, so don't worry too much. I've been having good bunnies lately for this story, so don't worry about it going on hiatus or anything. With that said, please review. It only takes a bit of your time and I'd really appreciate it. All you have to do would be to press the little purple button on the bottom left hand side of the screen. Until the next chapter, I bid you farewell!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hyuu…..I'm writing fast this turn round. Its hols so there's nothing to do at all (well, except write) so I'm writing faster. Future chapters will no longer have the other credits except disclaimer. That way there won't be any redundant words. I hope you guys like this chapter like the previous chapter. _

_Special thanks to ennui deMonte, Rasgara, Sleeve of White Snow, Lea Cat, Oxygen Pirate, werwqFA, Cerulean Soul, First Lady and person for reviewing my last chapter. Since the system's down and I'm not getting ANY alerts whatsoever, I will reply to some of your questions through here._

_Cerulean Soul: Well, Ocean blue is actually a greenish kind of blue, and since I'm not sure of the color, I followed Jedi Boadicea (so sorry). In a way, you're right too. As for Matsumoto, it's gigai. _

_werwqFA: Yes, it's the same Hyuuga as the Naruto Hyuuga. However, there's no blood relation whatsoever. The kanji for 'Hyu' and 'Hitsu' were the same and since the back sounded the same too, I took Hyuuga as a replacement for Hitsugaya's cer name. If you are a Naruto fan and feel offended about this then I'm terribly sorry._

_First Lady: I will admit, some of your observations on my chapter was quite true. The beginning is pretty dull but I plan on spicing that up. As for it being short I'll admit it is, but please, it's just the beginning. It'll get longer. If it doesn't I'll just try updating more frequently. Next, Matsumoto not having enough expression ...you're right on that count. I didn't think about that at all But for the the fact with Toushirou being rude... I have no comment on that because I have no idea what to say. But overall, I'm glad you liked Frozen Memories. Don't take this respond too seriously, I'm not back talking or anything. I glad you did tell me all this things. I do welcome critism. It gives me something to think about._

_Now, please. Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. However the storyline for this fanfiction and OCs do belong to me.

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**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 2: My Life through My Eyes

Toushirou slammed the door behind him with all the strength he had, smiling menacingly when the door closed with a loud bang. Shihou took one look at his dark expression and quirked an eyebrow.

"Nagaya, right?" she said tentatively. It was more a statement than a question.

"That bastard teased Momo again," Toushirou said, snarling through bared teeth. "He put roaches in her drawer. I swear, during training tomorrow I'm going to pummel him into the ground until he eats dirt!"

Stomping up the stairs he made his way to his room and slammed the door behind him.

Shihou sighed when he slammed his bedroom door for the second time and winced slightly when he closed the bathroom door with another resounding bang. Honestly, he was such a child at these times it was hard to comprehend that he was a child genius, a prodigy at that too.

Sighing again for the second time, Shihou returned to her work.

Hecate and Hiro would be home soon enough.

And then the real trouble would start.

* * *

Toushirou paddled his hair dry, messing it so that it was rowdy and spiky. Throwing the towel onto the chair, he flopped onto his bed. Staring at the ceiling with nothing to do, he couldn't help but muse over his life. 

His life was mostly average to say the least, but it was hard to tell. What with a strict father, an overly hyper mother, an uptight older sister, a pair of sarcastic younger twin brother and sister, a psychotic class rival and a babyish, bed-wetter childhood friend, life was indeed far from normal.

His father, Hyuuga Ryuujin was a descendent of a great samurai -or so he says- and owned a well known kendo dojo in Tokyo. His mother, Soraya had been a miracle doctor, taking her great skills from her mother. Now she was a housewife, busily cooking and cleaning and passing her healing skills to Hiro, his younger brother, who was also equally talented. However, she was pretty much a klutz. Shihou was a talented artist and author currently studying fine arts, animation and graphic designing at Tokyo University even though she was only 18. She was also apprenticed to Hina Mai, a well-known Manga-ka.

It was no surprise that the whole family were fast learners, skipping grades left and right. Even Hiro and Hecate had done so and were currently studying at Chiyoda Middle High in their final year at the age of 13; Hiro as already mentioned was a great healer, but contrary to his mother he had no interest in that field what so ever. Instead, he took a liking to explosives, and tended to mix gunpowder and dangerous chemicals in the kitchen. His twin Hecate was also interested in weaponry. Though she was under aged, she could handle the gun as well as any grown up. It was a wonder how they both got out of as many scrapes and close calls as they did.

His family was in truth, by far the strangest, yet most intelligent family you could find. However, when Hecate suddenly starts shooting with her latest gun at the dummy in the back yard, his mother starts wanting to do acupuncture on him, and Hiro blows up the kitchen from a wrong concoction of chemical compounds; Toushirou can't help but yearn for a normal family. At least Shihou and his father were pretty normal.

Thinking back on today's events, a grimace formed on Toushirou's face. Nagaya would pay; he'd make sure of that.

Nagaya Hibiki had been his sworn rival ever since they had met two years ago when Toushirou had skipped grades up to the first year of high school. Nagaya was still the same now, coy smile and play boy attitude. He had been the smartest boy in the entire school before Toushirou had come along and ousted him from that position. It didn't help that Nagaya was training at his father's dojo. But then, Nagaya had been complaining a lot lately to his father about the succession of the dojo.

Toushirou was a black belt in kendo, karate and judo and was going to inherit the dojo from his father when he retired. Nagaya on the other hand, was not happy with the arrangement. He had been hoping that-even though he was not Ryuujin's son- he could succeed the dojo. However, that dream was quickly destroyed when Toushirou had been announced as the heir. Now, he took his pointless anger out on his childhood friend Hinata Momo.

At that, Toushirou smiled at the thought of Hinata.

They had both met under quite strange consequences. When he had been five and her seven, Hinata had gotten lost in the Kanda district and Toushirou had been the one to find her. After knocking her on her head –which was quite a feat considering their height differences- he had chastised her on not being brave enough; she in return, had retorted that he had no idea what she had been through. He had then promptly declared her a bed-wetter.

After arguing for a while, Toushirou had finally had had enough of it and dragged her along with him to a book store where his family was waiting. Back then, Soraya had been expecting with the twins and had suddenly had a craving to read a book she hadn't finished. The whole family- Ryuujin, Shihou, Toushirou and herself- had been dragged down all the way to Kanda to do book hunting.

After introducing her to his family and explaining her predicament, his mother promptly decided that they should search for her family. No one dared argue with her at that moment, knowing full well how she was when she had hormonal mood swings. After searching high and low- and half of Tokyo Toushirou could have reckoned- they finally found her home at Chiyoda district, just five blocks away from their own house. It seems that she was their new neighbor that had just moved in a day ago.

Toushirou could have banged his head against a wall at that moment from all the frustration they had to go just to find her place, and it had only been five blocks away from them. But when she smiled at him and thanked him for bringing her home, he couldn't help but think that it had been worthwhile after all.

From that day on, they had been fast friends. Now, even though she was two years older, Toushirou would always protect her from all the bullies there were, just to make sure that she never lost that smile of hers.

As he turned around to stare out of his bedroom window, he noticed the dark clouds in the sky. It would most likely rain later. He'd ask Shihou. She would most definitely know. The thoughts on rain reminded him of the encounter he had had with that strange woman about a week ago.

He had charged under the roof quickly to escape the rain and had not felt her presence until a little later. Orange hair, grey eyes and breasts that looked too big to be natural, she was most definitely a foreigner; not that he didn't look like one as well, what with his white hait and ocean blue eyes. She had stared at him for quite sometime until he had been irritated. When he had asked her what was wrong, she had just said that he had looked like someone she knew.

Upon further questioning, he had found out that the person she mentioned was dead. He had given her a bit of his condolences, but she had just waved it off. He had then paid no attention to her. After the rain had lessened down considerably, he had left before she could even ask him what his name was.

It wouldn't be good to associated with strangers that looked suspicious.

However, Toushirou couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. That woman had seemed familiar, like they had met somewhere before at some relative past. But he was sure it was the first time they met.

Toushirou was shocked out of his reverie when a loud explosion resounded from the kitchen, shaking the house and its foundation. A string of curses and cries for the fire extinguisher soon followed after that.

Toushirou sighed; they would most likely be eating out tonight, seeing that the kitchen had been blown to bits again by another one of Hiro's concoctions. Getting up, he made his way out of his room and down the stairs to inspect the damage. He hoped it wasn't too severe. Honestly he had no idea how his father was abled to pay for the repair bills that came frequently.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed that the damage wasn't as bad as the last time. The shoji door was burnt to a crisp and the side table where they prepared the cooking ingredients was half singed. Other than that, everything else was fine. Sighing again Toushirou rolled up his sleeves and helped them clean the redundant of the accident.

Really, life couldn't get any weirder than this now.

* * *

_So how was that? I think it's longer than the previous and I hope it pleases you people. I have no qualms if you don't review or don't like it, it's your opinion. Even so, I hope you all found it nice. If you can, please review. It only takes a moment of your time. The next chapter should be up soon so sit tight. Until then, I bid you Adieu! _


	3. Chapter 3

_Hi hi! Sorry if the wait was long. I came down with a case of common cold and had a concert to prepare for. My class was the backstage propping for the drama and dance. Then, I had trouble uploading it sooner. Anyway, here it is. I'm going to go on a trip to Singapore to visit my cousins, and if you look at my profile you'll see for how long and the consequences for this trip. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter of Reincarnations of Ice!_

_Special thanks to TFKeyes, Cerulean Soul, Nyu Kitsune, BankotsuAngel, Rasgara, OShayO, Jay Kamiya, First Lady, Lea Cat, Yukiko Tsukishirou, soulcollecter, Sleeve of White Snow, Crazy Hyper Lady, phppsmss, iloveshirouandkakashi, werwqFA, Taka and yuki-tenshee for reviewing my story. The alerts are back on but I'll still reply some of your questions through here for a while. The questions this turn were little though so it won't be long._

First Lady- I know I haven't corrected my mistakes yet, but I sometimes find it abit troublesome because I make a lot of changes here and there during the edit section in my account when I upload the story. When I'm free I will look back and make a few changes. But until then, I hope you wait patiently. I'm also glad that you found the last chapter up to your satisfaction. Other than that, hope this chapter is also up to your liking.

_Now please, Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. However, the storyline for this fan fiction and OCs rightfully belong to me.

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**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 3: We Meet Again

Matsumoto sighed. This was the second time in a month that she had come down to the human world, to Tokyo. Walking along the streets of the Aoyama district, she wondered for the fifth time since she had arrived what she was doing here.

She knew that answer long ago.

It was because she hoped that she would be able to meet that strange boy again -the reincarnation of Hitsugaya Toushirou. It had been a week since she had met him but still the memory haunted her. She had been so dumbfounded the last time that she hadn't even been able to ask about him, let alone his name. And of course, he hadn't given it to her. To her, he was someone she knew that was very dear to her. But to him, she was just some stranger he had met on a rainy day. There wasn't much of a possibility of someone giving their name to another when they had just known each other for fifteen minutes.

After walking around for heaven knows how long in her daydream, Matsumoto suddenly felt the impact of someone bumping into her and soon heard a sound thud, signaling that the person had fallen over. The contact with someone broke Matsumoto out of her daze immediately. Looking down, she was surprised to see the same boy she had met on that rainy day, just this time he wasn't soaking wet.

The boy was sitting on the floor, muttering a string of curses under his breath. When he had looked up to retort he stopped short at the sight of her, looking at her with a surprised expression; instead of saying what he had wanted to say, all that Matsumoto heard was "You again?"

Matsumoto extended a hand to help him up; but he ignored her help and got up by himself, brushing his pants of any imaginary dirt and picking up his school bag. He was wearing the same clothes he wore that day, white school blouse with a light blue shirt underneath and beige colored pants. As he slung his bag over his shoulder, the boy made a motion to leave. But before he could do so, Matsumoto stopped him.

"Wait!" she said, grabbing his shoulder. "Um… would you like to go have a drink somewhere?"

The boy eyed her suspiciously. Matsumoto quickly released her hold on his shoulder, realizing how forward she was being.

"I don't mean any harm," Matsumoto quickly replied, waving her hands in front of her. "Just take it as my apology for banging into you."

The boy stared at her for a while before saying anything. "It's not needed for you to do such a thing."

"I insist," Matsumoto protested. "It's nothing much really, but if it takes up any of your time, you don't have too."

He frowned and thought for a while before replying her. "I'm free anyway, so it's alright."

Matsumoto let out a breath she had unknowingly held.

"There's a nice café I know just a few blocks from here," he continued. "We can go there if you don't know anywhere else."

"No that will do."

"By the way..." He paused for a while. "What's your name?"

"Matsumoto, Matsumoto Rangiku."

"I'm Hyuuga Toushirou; nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine."

With that, Matsumoto followed him to the café.

* * *

When they arrived, there weren't many people at the café. They soon sat themselves at a table situated on the second floor of the café in a nice quiet area out on the balcony. A waitress soon arrived and took their orders ,Matsumoto ordering prawn soba and a bottle of sake while Toushirou just took green tea ice cream, saying that he had already eaten.

Before she left Matsumoto caught sight of the waitress winked slyly at Toushirou, who promptly glared at her. From the way they acted it was certain that this wasn't the first time he had been here and was quite familiar with the staff. Soon the orders arrived and after saying a word of prayer they tucked into their food. Matsumoto couldn't help but smile at the sight of the reincarnation of her ever strict captain eating ice cream like a child. Between gulps of food, Matsumoto asked him questions here and there about his life.

"Do you have any family members?"

"Of course I do."

"Well how many?"

"My parents, an older sister and younger brother and sister who are twins. All together, there are six of us living together."

"What are they like?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out."

"Do you have any grandparents?"

"No comment."

"How old are you?"

"15 years old. I have no intention of taking a girl friend, especially a woman older than me."

"That's not why I asked you about that!"

A grunt was the only response Matsumoto got out of her retort.

"What school are you studying at?"

"High school; there's no need for you to know the name."

"Wait a minute, high school? But you said you were 15!"

"I skipped two grades."

"That's smart."

"Not actually. My siblings skipped grades too as well as my elder sister."

"Okay, that's it. What are you guys?"

"Not aliens if that's what you mean to say."

"I don't believe in that sort of thing."

"Sure you do."

Matsumoto could have sworn he was mocking her. "How many friends do you have?"

"That's also something you don't need to know."

"From the way you act, I'd guess it's not much."

Silence greeted Matsumoto as Toushirou scooped the last few bits of the ice-cream out from the bowl. She had long finished her soba and was halfway through her bottle of sake, not feeling one bit woozy. Soon they both had finished and Matsumoto called for the bill, insisting to the boy that it was her treat and he didn't need to pay for it even if he felt he had to. He just grunted at that at said nothing when Matsumoto handed the waitress some cash and told her to keep the change. The waitress stared at her for a moment before smiling and left.

After that, Matsumoto had wanted to invite him on a shopping trip, but Toushirou had declined, saying that it was late and he had to go home. Otherwise, his mother would throw a fit and start sending out missing person ads if not. Matsumoto wondered slightly what kind of mother she was compared to Renhana, Toushirou's previous mother but didn't ask, knowing full well of his reluctance to depart much information on his family or social life that any attempt would be futile.

Looking at him leave for the second time, cutting through the crowd and rapidly disappearing in it, Matsumoto wondered whether they would have a chance to meet again.

* * *

_Aoyama- Shops, offices, restaurants and residential areas in Tokyo_

_Well, how was it? I'm a bit short on things to say this turn round, so it'll be a bit short. However, I'll be putting up a bit of explanations on the places I use. For the previous chapters I will update the glossary a little later. Other than that, until the next chapter I bid you farewell!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Hi Hi Minna! I'm updating fast today. Tomorrow, I'll be going on my trip so just incase, I'll post the chappie now. Don't worry Yukiko Tsukishirou I got your correction and have changed most of them except for the first two (I don't think their wrong but thanks for warning me anyway). This chapter is pretty long, but I'm not sure whether its satisfactory since I wrote this at 12 in the morning. But all the same, please enjoy!_

_Special thanks to OShayO and any other reviewers that didn't get to review in time for reviewing my last chapter._

_Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters belong to Kubo Tite. However, the storyline and OCs for this fan fiction rightfully belong to me.

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**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 4: The Power to Fight

The bell rang soon enough, and Toushirou began tucking his books and stationary into his bag. Class had been the same as usual. The workload was quite an admirable amount, and even if he did it in the library as he always did, he'd still have to finish some at home, which was quite a rare occurrence actually.

"Shirou-chan," A cheery voice called. "Let's go, or we'll be late for the meeting!"

"I got it," Toushirou replied, snapping his bag shut and faced the owner of the voice. "And don't call me that will you Hinata? I'm not a little kid anymore."

Hinata just laughed at that. "You'll always be my Shirou-chan. You know that."

Toushirou only grunted at that. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he followed his childhood friend out of the door, picking up the pace slightly.

It definitely wouldn't do to be late.

After all, he was the student body president.

* * *

Toushirou had been admitted into Tanaka Private High situated at Chiyoda district at the age of 13, passing the entrance exam easily and with flying colors. He had been sent to the top class of the first year and had achieved the highest marks in the whole form during the final year examinations, ousting Nagaya from his spot as the highest in the form with ease. 

It didn't take him long to establish a reputation as a genius. His work was always impeccable, perfect to every standard and meeting the teachers' every expectation.

His mastery at the sword surprised the school's kendo instructor, making him the captain of the kendo club even though he was only in his first year. During Valentine's Day that year, he had been surprised when he saw tons of chocolates in his shoe box, making him wonder why he had gotten so many of them and what in the world he was going to do with all of them seeing that he had no attachment to any of the girls that had given them to him. The only chocolate he had kept and finished was the one that Hinata gave him, and that was only because she had given it directly to him.

Then the next year, he had been anonymously voted as the student body president, and much to Hinata's delight she was chosen as the student body secretary. The only problem was that Nagaya had been chosen as the vice president, which complicated things a lot. But even so, they still managed to get things sorted in time.

Toushirou was still the captain for the kendo club, with Nagaya unfortunately as his vice.

But other than the occasional squabble, they never got their personal problems mixed with having their duties run smoothly. Today was no different. They had just finished with the student body meeting and Toushirou and Hinata were heading back. There was training that day, and as renshi of the dojo, he had to be there.

Nagaya had training at Ryuujin's dojo today so he was heading the same way. The only difference this time was that Nagaya wasn't riding in his car as he always did. Instead he was walking ten paces behind them, glaring a hole through Toushirou's back. It seems that his car had broken down and couldn't be repaired until later on a bit, hence the current situation.

Toushirou wonder why he just didn't call for another car. Nagaya was the son of a rich businessman making a profit out of the metal industry. Whilst he and Hinata had gotten into a private high school through hard work, Nagaya had gotten into the school via his father's money. If Toushirou remembered correctly, Nagaya's family lived in a two storey mansion with a spacious lawn at Minato district, with two Rolls Royce's and a Porsche.

Hinata had gotten into Tanaka through hard work, plain and simple. Toushirou could remember the day she had grabbed his hand and danced around the front lawn when she found out she had passed along with Toushirou. She had looked pale and haggard before, not to mention a lot thinner due to the stress. But then at that moment, the shine had come back into her eyes and her face looked like ten years had been lifted from it. Compared to him, who had just taken the exam and nailed it without much effort, her struggle was much more fruitful in her eyes than he'd ever think it was.

Thinking back, it seemed like that day was just yesterday.

As they turned another corner, Toushirou was listening patiently to Hinata's chatter while Nagaya continued to glare at them. Hinata was going to go over to his house to visit his mother and they would break up there since the dojo was further away from the house. Contrary to Hiro, Hinata had a great interest for medicine and even though she was not a genius, she was quite good at it. Soraya had been happy to have another apprentice to take after her since Hiro didn't have any interest.

They were about half way there when Toushirou swore that he had heard a howl. It was an eerie cry, filled with hatred and sorrow. Turning in the direction where he had heard the sound, Hinata also looked in the same direction as he did with her face just as pale as his. He was sure Nagaya had heard it too when he turned in the same direction.

What Toushirou saw next left a vile taste in his mouth and made him feel sick; when he heard Hinata gasp in horror beside him and Nagaya take a step back with pure terror written on his face, he knew he wasn't dreaming.

A creature at least six foot tall was balanced on a pole with its two legs just a few miles away from them. Its body was big and had claws for hands. The most horrid part was its face. A white skeletal like mask with two horns sticking out of the top was over it, but Toushirou was sure that what was behind it weren't humane at all. Through the eyeholes, he could see to blood red pupils that mirrored bloodlust, framed with a void-like darkness that sent shivers down his back.

Suddenly the monster sprang from its perch and flew at them. Hinata screamed at that moment and they made a run for it. But the creature was quick, and had soon blocked their way. Swiping its gigantic hand, it attacked Hinata, but Toushirou quickly pushed her away and took the impact of the blow. The hollow howled for a second time and Toushirou was sent crashing into a wall.

He lost consciousness at that point.

* * *

Toushirou was confused to say the least. 

Here he was, forehead covered in blood and his uniform stained from it. That was no surprise, seeing that he had just collided heavily against a wall. He could even bet that a few of his ribs were broken. What was surprising was the chain sticking out of his chest and the fact that it led to his beaten body lying in rubble on the roadside.

He wanted to move, but found that he couldn't. Looking at where the creature was, he could see that Hinata had fainted from the ordeal and the shock. The creature would have had her if it wasn't for the fact that it was preoccupied with Nagaya. It now held him in his claws, its mouth wide open and ready to bite his head off. A strangled scream escaped Nagaya's throat as he tried to break free of the monster's grasp in vain.

Toushirou felt his fingers curl into a fist.

He couldn't let it end here, not like this.

He had to fight this, just like Nagaya was doing. If he didn't, Hinata would die.

He wouldn't let that happen.

When he made that resolve, Toushirou suddenly felt himself being swept away from reality. A cold wind blew at his face, and he brought his hand up to shield his face, his eyes squinted shut. That was when he noticed he was no longer lying down.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw that he was standing in a frozen land covered in ice, the cold wind howling against him. But the wind no longer felt biting and chilling. It was cold yes, but it was no longer an unwelcome cold. Instead, it felt like it was a part of him, an extension of his very being.

In the wind, he could the deafening roars mixing in with it. Soon, a creature appeared before him. But it was different from the monster before. At the first look it was easy to distinguish that it was a dragon, its long sinewy body was covered in ice like scales, and behind them he was sure he had seen the fast current of running water. Its red, diamond-like eyes looked into his own, as if reading into his very soul. Soon the roars turned to words in his ears.

'Why do you seek this power to fight?' It asked in a low growl-like voice.

"I need this power. I need to protect someone dear to me." Toushirou responded immediately.

The dragon took one look at him and let out a hiss which could be heard as sigh to his ears. 'You are just like him.'

"What?"

'I will give you this power to fight.' The dragon continued. 'The rest will be up to you,'

At that moment, Toushirou felt energy run through him like a shock wave.

And soon enough, he was back in the world of the living.

* * *

Matsumoto moved as fast as she could. 

A hollow had appeared at the Chiyoda district and had attacked a bunch of high school students. Jumping off another roof, Matsumoto hoped she could make it in time. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she didn't. Suddenly a burst of reiatsu filled the air around her. It felt familiar to Matsumoto's senses, yet it was clear that it was different. It couldn't be, she thought. It wasn't possible.

But when she reached the Hollow, she knew her eyes or senses were not playing tricks on her.

The Hollow had let go of the boy with brown hair in his hand and paid no attention to the unconscious girl with pigtails. Instead, it faced the boy with white hair and ocean blue eyes that Matsumoto knew, yet didn't know. She could see his body at a corner, head bleeding and a few ribs broken. However, his soul radiated with a powerful reiatsu, cold like the ice. His chain was no where in sight, and he was not clad in his school uniform. Instead, he wore the black robes of a Shinigami, sword raised against the Hollow.

Matsumoto couldn't believe it.

Hyuuga Toushirou had turned into a Shinigami. What was even more surprising was that the hilt of the sword was not rectangular like that of Asauchi's, but stretched out in a four point star, just like in his previous life.

Matsumoto watched in amazement as the boy jumped upwards, dodging a swipe in mid-air and cleaving the Hollow into half, landing gracefully afterwards. He possessed great skill, just like last time.

As the Hollow screamed and dispersed into a million pieces behind him, Toushirou staggered, wavering for a while before collapsing front wards. However, he never made impact with the ground as Matsumoto used shunpo to reach his side and catch him before he fell over. Lying his unconscious form down on the ground besides his body, Matsumoto surveyed the damage and let out a sigh of relief. None of their chains had broken.

Now, she thought, it was time to do her work.

* * *

_How was it? Was it up to your liking? Please review and tell me. Until the next time I update, I bid you all farewell._


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi Hi People! Guess where I'm uploading from? My cousin's computer! Guess I was wrong about them using the PC alot (It's actually the PS2_ :p_)Oh well...Here it is! The fifth chapter! It's a little short but don't worry. Next chap will be longer. For now, please enjoy!_

_Special thanks to Sleeve of White Snow, Shichimaru Gin, Lea Cat, Nyu Kitsune, Naien, Iudex Arcebus, OShayO, yuki-tenshee, phppsmss, Rasgara and Pork Bun for reviewing the last chapter. Now for the questions. Same as last week, there's not much._

_Shichimaru Gin: Yes, Hinata and Hyuuga can both be found in Naruto. However, there is no relation whatsoever. The kanji where the same. That's all._

_Naien: Sorry it's not very long. I'll try writing a longer one next time to make up to you, kay?_

_Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters are rightful property of Kubo Tite. However, the plot and storyline of this story plus the OCs belong to me.

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_

**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 5: New Teacher

Toushirou opened his eyes with a start, closing them soon after to protect them from the bright light that stung his eyes painfully. Willing his muddled head to clear, he blinked a few times to adjust his vision to the light. Looking around his surroundings, the first thing he could only see were the thousand bouquets of flowers and fruit baskets that crowded and overshadowed the white of his hospital room. Looking at a card on the nearest fruit basket, he could see it was from Hinata. Toushirou could have bet that there were about close to a hundred of each and wondered painstakingly what he was going to do with them.

"Tou-chan, you're awake!" cried Soraya as she entered the room and swiftly embraced him in a tight squeeze. A stinging pain erupted from his side and he soon found it hard to breath.

"Haha-ue, you're killing him," Shihou stated, as she too entered the room, carrying with her a tray of food.

Upon realizing that she was suffocating him, Soraya immediately released her grip on him with a start, giving him air to breath. At that moment, Hiro and Hecate entered the room as well.

"Well, nii-chan, it seems that you have finally woken up from your sleep," Hecate commented, a sly smile evident on his face.

"Welcome back, nii-san," Hiro said, flopping onto a sofa at the far corner of the room. "I hope you had a wonderful stay there in slumberland."

"As sarcastic as ever, aren't you." Toushirou said, taking sip of tea from the glass Shihou offered him.

Hiro just grunted and continued. "You're lucky, while we're are out slaving our butts off…" He waved his hands in a dramatic gesture… "You get to be babied on. Sometimes, nii-san, I envy your good fortune."

"Very funny…and pray tell, what are you doing that is making you 'slave your butt off', eh Hiro?" Toushirou asked, looking as innocent as he possibly could.

Hiro said nothing at that and just glared at him.

"He's upset because he had to do all your chores while you where stuck here." Shihou explained, while refilling his glass with more tea.

"How long have I been here?"

"Three days."

Toushirou almost spitted out his tea, but managed to gulp it down quickly. "Three days!" he repeated, all but screaming out the words.

An affirmative nod came from everyone currently in the room.

"It's not that long," Hecate said. "According to the doctor, this is quite a quick recovery considering the wounds you have."

"Come to think of it, why am I…" At that moment it dawned on him- the monster, Hinata, the ice dragon, everything. It all came back to him in a rush.

"It was a hit-and-run accident," Hiro said before Toushirou could say anything. "Someone phoned the ambulance and told them about the incident. It seems that person had been passing by and saw it all. You three were ferried here and we were contacted. Haha-sama almost had a heart attack and fainted."

"Then Hinata…"Toushirou began.

"Don't worry," Hecate butted in. "She only had a few bruises and scrapes and a minor concussion. She was dismissed on the same day. You did well in pushing her out of the way."

"How did you…?"

"It's what you would do and it explains why she wasn't injured badly," Shihou said with one of her rare smiles. "Oh yes, the other boy –Nagaya, was it- is going to be dismissed today. He had a few stitches done here and there and a concussion, but other than that he should have came out quite well."

"I see." Toushirou said softly. He wondered whether the both of them remembered anything about what had happened that day.

Soon Soraya and the others left, promising that they would be back tomorrow-and that they would find someway to clean out all these flowers. They'd just have to give them away or something. Lying down on the bed, Toushirou wondered whether it had all been just a dream.

* * *

Toushirou sat down at his desk on the third row by the window, hanging his bag on the side hook. Staring out the window, he allowed his mind to wander to the accident and what he had decided about it. 

He had asked Hinata whether or not she had remembered anything strange about the incident as soon as he had gotten out of the hospital a week ago; she had just stared at him and asked him if he was feeling all right. From the way Nagaya was acting –he couldn't bring himself to ask him- he was just going about his daily business like nothing had ever happened and showed no signs of having received any trauma at all.

He was about ready to dismiss the whole event as what was said by that unnamed witness. The rest would have more likely been a dream or hallucination and he was just being paranoid. But something bothered him about the incident, and no matter how much he denied it; he knew something was off with it all.

He was broken out of his daydream-like trance when he heard Hinata's voice. "Ne, Shirou-chan, did you know that we're going to have a new history teacher? I heard she's quite a pretty one too."

"As if I would be interested." Toushirou snorted, looking annoyed at Hinata.

"But all the other boys are hopping mad about it." She pointed out, her brown eyes shining in defiance.

"But I'm not like other boys, silly bed-wetter."

"I'm not a bed-wetter!"

Toushirou just grunted at that.

Suddenly, the door slid open and the class quieted down. Toushirou heard heels click onto the floor as the teacher stepped in. The lady made her way to the center of the class and turned to address them.

"Good day, kids," she said with a grin. "I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, your new history teacher. Nice to meet you all."

Toushirou was shocked to say the least to see her.

"Now, originally we were supposedly going to study about the Bakumatsu era and the fall of the Shogunate but let's do a little Q&A instead to get to know each other."

The class practically cheered at that.

Through out the lesson, Toushirou wondered silently what she was doing here. As little as he knew about her, he couldn't comprehend her as the type to teach. When it came to his turn to introduce himself, he just briefly told her his name, age and school position, sitting back down soon after. He could have sworn seeing her wink at him, but she soon turned to face the next student and her was unable to clarify whether it had been a trick of the eye.

He would have to talk to that woman later during lunch break.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" 

Even now he didn't pretend to be polite to her, Matsumoto mused. It had been lunch break when he had come to the teacher's office demanding what she was doing here, wearing a scowl on his face and eyes shining with annoyance. Crossing his arms in front of him, he waited patiently for her answer.

"You could at least be a bit more polite," she said with a pout. "After all, I'm your teacher."

"You don't seem like the teaching type," he retorted, eying her suspiciously.

"You could a least be grateful," she sighed. "After all, I'm the one who called the ambulance for you guys."

"Wait a minute, you were the one!"

"Oops, I shouldn't have said that."

There was silence for a while before he said anything.

"Are you sure it was a hit-and-run?" he asked quietly, eyes hidden so that she had no idea what he was feeling. His voice was barely audible, but Matsumoto heard it well.

"What makes you think otherwise?" She asked softly.

"I don't remember anything about a car." He said in return, not looking at her.

Matsumoto sighed. So he remembered.

"The monster you saw that day…"she said, catching his attention. "…Is called a Hollow. It is a soul that turns into a monster due to grief and loneliness, or just because they are plain evil. There are many souls that die everyday and a lot of them deny that fact, preventing them from being able to pass on. Hollows target those souls and devour them. Do you get me so far?"

Toushirou just nodded dumbly, as if trying to comprehend what she had just told him.

"When souls are unable to pass on, that's when a Shinigami-or death gods- comes in," she continued. "We send the souls to Soul Society, where all souls go after their life here. They live there in that world, waiting to be reincarnated. We also cleanse Hollows and make sure there is balance between the two worlds. I am a Shinigami, and so are you."

"What do you mean?" he said, clearly confused. 'And what are all this suppose to mean? All these stuff, they don't exist."

"They do," Matsumoto replied firmly. "You will understand in time."

"Okay…So why am I a Shinigami?"

"Remember…the sword, the robes?"

His eyes widened slightly at that.

"I think I get that part," he said slowly. This was a bit too much for him to comprehend- Hollows, Shinigamis, wandering souls, all of it.

"Don't think about it too much," Matsumoto said, patting him on the head and earning a scowl from the boy. "As I said you'll understand in time."

He just grunted at that. So alike, Matsumoto mused. "Hey, lets get something to eat. Mind leading the way to the cafeteria?"

"You still haven't answered my question you know." He mumbled under his breath. She just smiled at that.

"In due time, Toushirou. In due time."

* * *

_Alright, how was it? Is it good? Bad? Totally off? Review and tell me. Until the next chapter, I bid you farewell!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Yes…I finally update. I hope you guys didn't wait for a long time. The laptop broke down and the other computer conked out a long time ago, leaving only one computer for us to fight over, not to mention an annoying little brother and a mom that works from home, I barely have time to even type. Well, here it is. Again sorry for the long wait. Now enough of the small talk, and enjoy the sixth chapter of Reincarnation of Ice!_

_Special thanks to Gaara'z Inner Demon, IlliterateGuy, toushirou no hana, Nyu Kitsune, ennui deMorte, Jay Kamiya, i.love.waffles, Rasgara, Sleeve of White Snow, aznpinayshinigami, Lady Nessa Fefalas, First Lady and OShayO for reviewing the previous chapter. As for the questions/comments that I'd like to respond to:-_

_IlliterateGuy: I understand your wish to send me to hell, but please know that I'm terribly sorry about sending Hitsugaya on death's road. I was very well tempted to do a sequel and it was the only way to make a nice one. But all the same, I'm glad you like it (the sequel i mean)._

_toushirou no hana: ...did you read chapter 5 or do you don't understand it? I'm not questioning your knowledge or anything, but if you're confused about something then it signals my failure at portraiting it to you properly and I'd like to improve on that aspect. Thanks for reviewing though!_

_Sleeve of White Snow & Lady Nessa Fefalas: Yes, I'll admit I didn't put my all into it, but I hope this chapter will make up for the last, if not then I'm terribly sorry._

_**note**: If any of my comments anger you, feel free to skip this part next chapter. I am terribly sorry. I do not mean to contradict you in any way at all._

_With that said, please carry on to the story._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. However, what I do own is the storyline and OCs for this fan fiction.

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**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 6: Unveiling Secrets

It had been a week since Matsumoto had become a teacher at Tanaka Private High and Toushirou was already tired out from scolding her all the time even though she was a teacher. Honestly, he had no idea how she had even gotten a degree to teach. She must have driven her trainer to the brink of insanity until he or she would so blindly give this woman passing marks for the degree.

The first thing Matsumoto had done as a teacher was to assign one of the strangest assignments ever given in the history of history teachers he had ever had. Scratch that, she was different from any other teacher he had ever had in his entire life. He may be a genius, but he had absolutely no idea what she meant to imply by asking them to research on what kind of doo-doo birds knew how to sing.

When he had asked her after class what in all the hells had she meant, she just waved his question off and said she needed to give an assignment and had no idea what topic to give them, so she just created one on the spot.

The next incident was when she was teaching about World War Two. She had worn some crazy military uniform that she had made up and had gotten them to eat some horrid broth that she claimed was what the soldiers ate during the war. He was sure that soldiers didn't eat chicken stew with tomato paste and pickles laced with sake and sugar. Her sense of taste was just as bad as his mother's. Luckily, the one that cooked in the house –when the kitchen wasn't in shambles- was Shihou; otherwise they'd more likely been poisoned to death by now.

After that, all Matsumoto had said about the fact that half of the students in her class had thrown up was that they more likely hadn't chewed on their food properly. At that moment, Toushirou was even more glad that he had thrown the stuff away and stopped Hinata from even touching it.

Honestly, Toushirou couldn't comprehend what was wrong with that woman. He was just glad that Eisetsu-sensei was coming back today; otherwise they would more likely be dead by the end of semester.

Soon the bell for lunch break rang, its melodious tune resounding through the whole school. Getting up from his seat, he made his way out of the class and walked down the corridor, past the science labs, down three levels of stairs and turned out into the open court yard. Walking past the gardens that were beautifully decorated with roses and tulips and a beautifully carved fountain, he couldn't help but feel impressed; the gardening club had done a fine job.

Soon, Toushirou reached the staff building where all the management of the school took place. Pushing the big mahogany doors open, he entered the building. With its sweeping marble tile floors and beautiful décor, it would have been mistaken for a castle. Tanaka Private High was once the mansion of a rich millionaire with a taste for Italian designs. After he had died, he had donated his house and fortune to creating a private school. With the fortune the man left behind, they build class rooms and other school facilities, computerizing the whole system at the school and naming it after him.

It was lunch break so not many people were in the staff building. Making his way past a row of computer booths, he walked up a small wooden round stairs up into the teacher's lounge. Making his way past a few work spaces, he soon reached the one with Matsumoto's name hung on a hook outside. Peeking inside, he saw the familiar tuft of orange hair bent over on the table, head in arms. He could here slight snoring sounds coming from the lying figure.

Toushirou sighed and walked in. Making his way to Matsumoto, he knocked her on her head, waking her up abruptly. She jumped out of her seat and looked around the work space wildly with dazed eyes. Clearing his throat, her eyes finally settled on him and she stopped her little frenzy.

"Oh Toushirou, it's you," she said cheerily with a smile.

Toushirou's eyebrow twitched. "It's Hyuuga-kun for you," he said, crossing his arms in front of him irritated. "Come on, let's go to the cafeteria."

"Hai, hai, Tou-chan."

"Don't call me that either."

"Your mother does."

Toushirou sighed again. It already didn't help that he had to see her everyday at school, but it was worse that Matsumoto lived just next to him and thus walked home with him and Hinata. Hinata didn't mind the extra company; in fact she welcomed the prospect. What was even worse when Soraya had invited her over for dinner; when both ladies found out they had much in common, Soraya insisted that Matsumoto come over more and the other agreed eagerly. Now, he had a hyper, baby-like crazy teacher added into his already weird enough life.

After exiting the staff building and passing the gardens, they turned left towards the cafeteria. As soon as they reached, Matsumoto quickly dragged him into line. After ordering for a chicken sandwich with fried calamari and tomato juice, she made her way down the line to collect her food and inserted her ID card into the machine at the end of the line. Toushirou ordered soba and green tea before following suit.

Here at Tanaka Private High where most of the things were computerized, every student and teacher had an ID card. When entering the school, they would scan their cards at the scanner at the main gate to take attendance. It was also used as a credit card when buying something from the bookstore and cafeteria. Whenever they bought something, the amount of the stuff would be deducted from the credit inside the card. You only needed to have real money ready to top up the card when the credit was low. Another function of the card was as a library card to be used at the school library and a pass card to enter certain places. A lot of student info was in the card like name, class, post and others. So if it was lost, the students would have to immediately alert the school. Students and teachers were advised to remember the card code if so.

After settling themselves at a table in the cafeteria's indoor garden with Hinata, they began their meal. As soon as Hinata had finished her meal of onigiri and plum pudding, she chatted with Matsumoto who had also finished eating. As soon as Toushirou finished his soba, he saw a familiar figure enter the cafeteria. Waving to him, the man spotted them and made their way to the table.

As the man got closer, Toushirou heard Matsumoto gasp. The look of shock that appeared on her face was evident. As soon as the man reached the table, his eyes widened.

"Ran-chan!" he said, clearly surprised.

"Gin!" she screamed.

'Gin?' Toushirou thought.

"Matsumoto-sensei," Hinata said, clearly confused. "This man is called Eisetsu Kodachi-sensei. He's our science teacher."

The look on Matsumoto's face was so strange that Toushirou would have laughed if not for the fact that Eisetsu-sensei looked so serious.

* * *

Matsumoto couldn't believe her eyes. This had to be a dream. Looking at the man standing before her, she wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or be angry. She just stared at him. He did just the same.

Gin looked about just the same as last time, except slightly different. He still had that creepy grin and silted eyes and with his hair as white as ever, but he clearly looked more weary and aged. It was also a little strange seeing him wear casual clothes like a beige shirt and black color pants.

When Toushirou cleared his throat, she snapped out of her day dreaming and looked at him. She noted that he and Hinata looked somewhat confused at all of this.

"You know Eisetsu-sensei?" Toushirou asked with a frown on his face.

"She and I are both old friends," Eisetsu -or rather Gin- said, before she could say anything.

"Is that so?" Hinata said, the confusion in her eyes disappearing. "Then, would you two like to catch up? Shirou-chan and I can leave if so."

"Yes," Matsumoto said quickly. "It'd be nice if you could do that."

The look on Gin's face wasn't as convincing.

"Fine," Toushirou said, getting up. "I've got something to do at the student body council anyway. Come on Hinata."

With that, they left them alone. Gin sat down at the seat that the boy genius had been occupying and said nothing. Matsumoto didn't say anything either.

"Ne, Ran-chan," Gin finally said, breaking the silence. "What do you think of him? You know…Tou-kun."

"He's him, isn't he?" Matsumoto said, knowing that Gin knew full well who he is.

"He is, and he's not," Gin said, a smile on his face. "He's the same soul, but he's lived a different life then the Hitsugaya-taichou we knew."

"I get that part," Matsumoto replied. "And I don't blame you."

Gin didn't say anything at that.

"Gin," Matsumoto said. "How did you know Toushirou?"

"I met his sis when she was a little kid. I know his parents and family as well. In truth, Tou-kun and Hiro-chan didn't like me much, until…" Gin shook his head at that moment.

"Until what?" Matsumoto asked. Toushirou had had almost the same response when she had asked about his family.

"It's not needed for you to know."

"Toushirou said the same thing when I ask about his family."

"He did, huh?"

"You know I'll have to tell Soul Society about you." Matsumoto finally said. She thought she saw Gin tense slightly at that.

"Do what you have to, Ran-chan," Gin said, the grin ever present on his face. "I'll see what I have to do then."

"Gin, are you…"Matsumoto began, but he cut her off mid sentence.

"I don't have Shinigami powers any more, so even if I wanted to do something I'm still human."

With that, he got up from his seat and left as well. Matsumoto just sat there until the bell rang again, pondering on what she should do.

* * *

It had been almost a month since Eisetsu-sensei had come back. Autumn was coming and it was getting colder by the day. However, Toushirou seemed unaffected by it.

"Shirou-chan, how come you don't ever feel cold?" Hinata had asked once through chattering teeth when they were younger. He had told her then that he just didn't, and that was that.

Toushirou wasn't sure whether it was his imagination or not. For the past month, Eisetsu-sensei and Matsumoto had been looking agitated and worried, as if they were expecting something bad to happen. But as far as he knew, they didn't seem to be having any problems lately. He had asked Hecate and Hiro to look at them when they had come over for dinner a week ago. Hecate said that there was a dark shadow on their hearts; Hiro said that he sensed dark expectation coming from Eisetsu-sensei. He had concluded that something from the past bothered them and it was coming back to haunt Eisetsu-sensei.

But so far, nothing had happened. Toushirou was beginning to wonder whether the twins' sixth sense could ever be wrong.

Today seemed like every other day. Hinata and he were taking some lab frogs to the science lab. Eisetsu-sensei said he needed them to do dissection for a first form class. Climbing up the stairs to the second floor, they were about to open the door to the science lab that Eisetsu-sensei normally used when they heard voices coming from inside. Two of which Toushirou could pinpoint as Eisetsu-sensei's and Matsumoto's, but the others –even though they sounded familiar- belonged to strangers.

Peeking from behind the door, he could see three men confronting Eisetsu-sensei. Matsumoto was standing a little further away from them. One of the men had spiky, long bright red hair and tattoos all over his forehead and hand as far as Toushirou could see. He wondered whether the man was some kind of punk, his clothing were definitely weird enough. The other man had orange hair and wore a plain shirt and pants. He silently wondered whether the hair color was his original hair color. The last man was a bit more classical. He sported a high ponytail and wore a traditional gi and hakama.

"Are you going to come along quietly, Ichimaru Gin?" The man with the red hair said.

'Ichimaru Gin?' Toushirou wondered silently. Was that an alias for Eisetsu-sensei?

"I don't have Shinigami powers anymore," Eisetsu-sensei said in an as-a-matter-of-fact way. "I can't go into Seireitei or Soul Society."

'Seireitei?' thought Toushirou. He remembered that Matsumoto had told him something about that place -a place where all Shinigami resided, or as Matsumoto had said. It could only mean that these people were also Shinigami and Eisetsu-sensei once was one. That fact was quite clear from what they had said just now.

"What makes you think that we'd believe what you said?" the man with the ponytail finally said. Toushirou may not know that man, but he had a feeling that man was a no-good lowlife. Or that's what he thought.

"You're all taichous, so you should know whether or not I'm lying," Eisetsu-sensei replied calmly. The man clammed up at that.

Toushirou sneaked a peek at Hinata. From the look on her face, she had no idea what was going on and was clearly getting very scared. Is should be about time to end this. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, startling the people inside. Walking in with Hinata in tow, he looked around the room, glaring at the three men. When the men saw him and Hinata, they looked somewhat shocked and the orange head looked like he wanted to say something.

"Eisetsu-sensei," he said, turning his glare onto the teacher. "Here are your frogs."

Eisetsu looked slightly surprised, but recovered quickly and grinned. "Thank you. Put them on the shelf over there."

After doing that, Toushirou turned his attention on the three men.

"Who are you? What is your purpose here?" Toushirou said with as much authority as his post gave him.

"What gives you the authority to question us, squirt?" the red head said, clearly annoyed with him. Toushirou's eyebrow twitched at that.

"Intruders aren't allowed in this school," Hinata said quickly. "If you do not have proper authorization to enter here then please leave or I'll call the guards."

"Stay out of this matter, girl," the pony tailed man snorted. "It's none of your business."

"It is our business as the student body president and secretary," Toushirou replied, glaring at the men. "If you still wont tell us what your purpose is to be here, then leave."

"I thought only a teacher could do that," the red head remarked, quirking an eyebrow- if it was his eyebrow. With those tattoos it was hard to see.

"They do," Eisetsu piped in, earning a glare from the three men. Turning to Toushirou, Eisetsu said, "Can you excuse them just this once, Hyuuga-kun, Hinata-kun?"

"But they're disturbing you aren't they?" Hinata replied, surprising the occupants of the room.

Eisetsu recovered first and smiled at her. "Why do you say that?"

"Because they're talking about things like Shinigami and Soul Society and all that nonsense," Toushirou said. "Those things don't exist."

He was sure Matsumoto and the three men were staring holes into his back at that moment. The red head looked like he was about to blow a gasket when Matsumoto stopped him. "That's enough," she said calmly. "This has been going on for long enough. Just leave."

"Now you're taking his side?" the guy with the ponytail sneered, glaring at her. "What would Hi…"

"Don't say anything about him here!" Matsumoto cried angrily, startling Toushirou and Hinata. "Especially not in front of…" She stopped at mid-sentence.

Suddenly, Toushirou felt his head swoon. His vision blurred and his consciousness started slipping. Images began flying before his eyes.

_A man…_

'That man is…'

"Shirou-chan! What's wrong? Say something!"

_A sword curving…_

"Toushirou, wake up!"

_A woman screaming…_

'That woman…'

"Tou-kun, Tou-kun, come on… Snap out of it!"

_The sword piercing into…_

'White hair…'

"Shirou-chan!"

Toushirou faded into unconsciousness at that moment.

* * *

Matsumoto was panicking. Half way through her sentence, she stopped. Toushirou was here, and it wouldn't be right to talk about him here. Then all of a sudden, Toushirou had had that strange far-away look in his eyes. No matter how much they called his name, he wouldn't snap out of it. Then he had collapsed.

Hinata looked about close to tears at that moment. Getsushirou, Ichigo and Renji were surprised to say the least. Gin just looked perplexed. Matsumoto didn't know what to think, but she was definitely confused.

Gin was the first to snap out of his daze. "Hinata-chan, calm down," he said, patting her on the head. "We have to take him to the infirmary downstairs. Ran-chan, help me lift him. I'll carry him down the stairs. You three stay here. No protesting. If the guards saw you then you will have to leave whether you like it or not."

With that, they left the three men behind, flustered and agitated. Soon they reached the infirmary. After the nurse there had taken a look at him, she concluded that there was nothing wrong with him and he was just unconscious. She couldn't find the cause of why he had though and was slightly perplexed, but she just concluded this as a case of stress and lack of sleep.

Looking at Toushirou sleep on the infirmary bed, Matsumoto couldn't help but muse at how he looked so peaceful and young when he slept. When there was no barrier or worries, he looked plain innocent lying there.

"It should have stopped already," Hinata murmured from her position by Toushirou's bed, still clutching onto his hand. What she said caught Matsumoto's attention and Gin's as well.

"What should have stopped already?" Matsumoto asked tentatively.

"When Tou-kun was little," Gin cut in. "He would space out like this as well. Then when he wakes up, he would always tells us about some sordid, sad past of some person he saw in 'visions'. After looking around the neighborhood, we could always find the person he sees and it turns out what he saw really did happen before. There was even once when he saw a vision of a girl drowning, and when we looked for the person we found out that that girl had died for some time, and that her soul was trapped in that river."

"So you mean…"

"Yes, Tou-kun has the power to see into the past of others, even souls," Gin said, confirming her suspicions.

"However," he continued. "Tou-kun has no control over it whatsoever. When someone feels upset or is in pain, his senses pick it up and he's able to see into their pasts. We have no idea how far his senses can pick up, or how far back he sees. Sometimes it not even a past, it's a future. That happened to an old man. He saw the old man getting hit by a car, and it happened the very next day. Some way or the other when it happens, it happens, and Tou-kun can't help it."

Matsumoto was shocked to say the least. These kind of spiritual senses were hard to find, and signified that the person had a strong reiatsu. For Toushirou to have it shouldn't have come as a surprise, after all the Hollow had targeted him and his friends. Suddenly, Matsumoto remembered what Hinata had said.

As if reading her mind Gin replied. "A few years ago, Sora-chan and Ryuujin-san took him to a shrine in Kyoto and had him blessed by one of the priestesses there. After that the visions stopped."

Matsumoto nodded her head in understanding and turned her gaze back onto the sleeping boy. She wondered what he had seen. It could have been a stranger, or it could have been…Matsumoto didn't want to think about that. Soon enough, Toushirou woke up. Matsumoto heard Hinata let out a sigh of relief. Toushirou was a bit muddled, but soon his head cleared enough.

"Matsumoto, Eisetsu-sensei, can I talk with you for a minute?" Toushirou asked, making a motion to get up, but Hinata stopped him, saying that he should rest a bit more. Toushirou said he would and asked her to leave for a while. She complied immediately.

Turning to them, he didn't say anything for a while. When he finally spoke, Matsumoto couldn't help but have a sinking feeling in her gut. "I saw the both of you wearing Shinigami robes, fighting in some kind of city. Everything was suspended in mid-air, like time had stopped. There was a huge door and there was a boy standing in front of it. Then, Eisetsu-sensei's sword suddenly curved and pierced the boy. Matsumoto screamed for the boy to watch out, but in the end, it didn't help."

He stopped there. Silence fell upon the room. Matsumoto had no idea what to say and Gin looked like he had been expecting that.

"Matsumoto," Toushirou continued. "The boy…had white hair like mine. Was he…the friend you said that looked like me? Did he…die then?"

Matsumoto didn't respond at first, but then she nodded her head. "Yes," she said. "That's him. But he didn't die then. Only after the incident, he died from…illness."

"I see." Was all Toushirou could say at that moment His brow creased into a frown and he turned his attention to Gin. "What about those men? Is it because you did that to that boy that they're here?"

"It's for a reason bigger than that," Gin said, not looking at Matsumoto.

Toushirou didn't say anything at that.

"I'll ask them to leave," Matsumoto finally said, getting up from her seat by the window and left the room.

She wasn't sure what they talked about after she left, but she didn't really want to know. Getting to the science lab, she found Ichigo and Renji wrestling on the floor. Sighing, she easily booted them out. Getsushirou was harder.

"You know Central 46 won't be happy about this," he said, as she escorted them out of the school grounds.

"I'll handle the consequences," she said firmly. "What about you? Will you tell Renhana about him?"

Getsushirou paused for a while before answering. "No, I am no longer his father, and she is no longer his mother. There is no need for her to know."

And with that, they left, leaving Matsumoto to wonder whether her decision was right or not.

* * *

_Yay, ten pages! I was on a roll of sorts and I didn't want to split the pages. Anyway, I hope this please you all somewhat. Please review. Flames are invited. Until the next chapter, chao!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Yes, I redid this chapter. If I had followed up the chapter before, then I would have veered of course from what I had planned to do, so I decided on going back to the original line. I don't know whether you're all unhappy with the fact I deleted the last chapter, but please bear with my little insanities. As of tomorrow, school will be reopening again, and that means the updates will get slower. Don't worry people; I don't plan to leave this story hanging for too long. As for now, I give you the second seventh chapter!_

_Special thanks to coco0106, OShayO, aznpinayshinigami, soulcollector, Sleeve of White Snow, Jay Kamiya, Rasgara, Shichimaru Gin, Dragonrider Kohaku, TFKeyes, Lea Cat, IlliterateGuy, Cerulean Soul and Lady Nessa Fefalas for reviewing the previous (sixth) chapter of Reincarnation of Ice. Now on to the replies of your questions/comments:-_

_**Coco0106**: I'll have to see first whether or not to put lovey-dovey content into the story. Hinata reminds you of Hinamori because she's the reincarnation of her. If you still don't understand, go read the first chapter of Frozen Memories._

_**IlliterateGuy & Cerulean Soul**: Matsumoto is not a substitute teacher. She's a new teacher. The old history teacher retired and she took his/her post. Gin was on leave for two weeks due to personal reasons and only came back a week after Matsumoto became a teacher. Is that clear enough for you?_

_**Lady Nessa Fefalas**: To know about Getsushirou and Renhana, I recommend you read Frozen Memories. This story is its follow-up. By the way, thanks for the prep talk! I really appreciate it._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. However, I do own the storyline and OC's for this fanfiction.

* * *

_

**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 7: Brother

Shihou looked at the person sitting on the other side of the table, searching his face for any signs of falsehood. He betrayed none of which. Letting out a sigh, she took a sip of the green tea that she had not touched since the man had entered. She noted vaguely that it had gone cold, but didn't pay much mind to it. Looking at Officer Yoshino Matsuzaki she simply asked him.

"He managed to wring an early parole out of the government's hands, hasn't he?" To her ears and his, it sounded more like a statement than a question. She had known the answer for a long time but hadn't made an attempt to voice her suspicions until now.

"Yes," Yoshino said plaintively, trying to sound neutral in this kind of situation, but Shihou didn't miss the underlying distaste in the man's voice. It seems that the man felt uneasy about the release, and didn't like letting him out any more than she did.

Him, the person that she had hoped would stay in jail forever.

Looking at Yoshino solemnly, her eyes shone with a certain kind of determination. "Don't tell my younger siblings about this."

The message in her golden eyes was clear, and the officer complied immediately, nodding his head in acceptance. He wasn't about to risk anything with this woman. If that man was as dangerous, then this woman could easily be the same when it came to matters like this.

After all, the apple never fell far from the tree, and the officer still had a family of his own to feed.

* * *

Toushirou walked down the hallway, balancing a stack of paperwork that had been done for the student body council in his hands. Normally Hinata would have been the one to this kind of work -seeing that she was the secretary, after all- but she hadn't turned up at school today. When passing her house this morning, Hinata Kaho-san, Momo's mother, had told him that she had caught a cold last night and wasn't well enough to go to school. Thus it was left to him, as her best friend to help her collect her homework and do her duties (which were marginally lesser than his).

Soon, he walked out of the co-curriculum building and down the walkway towards the staff building that was just beside it. Upon entering the teacher's lounge, he made his way to Eisetsu's workspace, which was unfortunately just after Matsumoto's workspace. However, when he took a look into her space, he wasn't surprised to find her missing. Bracing himself, he knocked on the wall outside of the next workspace. As expected, Matsumoto had been there and he was immediately squeezed by the woman's humongous breasts (which he was starting to detest). He wondered how that woman could even walk properly with those monstrosities.

"Oi, Matsumoto," he said huffily, trying his best to breath properly. "Get off of me."

"Oh you're no fun," She replied with a pout, prying herself away from him.

Looking at the snickering teacher behind her, Toushirou promptly glared at him. He immediately dumped the paperwork into Eisetsu's lap, earning an undignified yelp from the surprised teacher.

"Tou-kun, couldn't you be a bit gentler?" The teacher said, putting the paperwork on the table and wincing slightly at the numbness of his legs. "You could have just put them on the desk, ne Ran-chan?"

Toushirou let out a sigh of his own at this. All in all, he had been somewhat wrong in his guess about Eisetsu's abilities to control Matsumoto. Sure he could stop her from doing too many crazy things, but when it came down to sake breaks and annoying him, those two would always be partners-in-crime.

Suddenly, Toushirou noted a change in Eisetsu's demeanor. The man had looked his easy-going self a moment ago, but now he was looking at him with a very serious expression.

"You look troubled," he stated simply. "Is something bothering you?"

And Eisetsu was right as always when it came to perceiving how others felt. Lately, Shihou had been having this kind of dark expression on her face. Yes she always looked serious, like she was about to bite your head off if you said anything wrong (as Hecate's friend Ayaka had once described her). But Toushirou always knew how to distinguish when she was her usual unsmiling self and when it was that dark, worried expression. He had asked her a few times what was wrong, but she had always replied him with one of her rare small smiles, saying that she was fine and just thinking about something. It did trouble him greatly that she was hiding something. She and he were very close, and none of them kept a secret from one another unless it was... Toushirou shook his head at that. Shihou would never do anything that would endanger herself or her family. He was certain of that at least.

Bidding a quick goodbye to the two teachers, he made his way back to the student body office.

Passing the courtyard gardens and going further down the path, he was soon reached the co-curriculum building. Making his way up the second floor, he walked pass the choir room as they sang a traditional Japanese folk song and opened the next door. As soon as he set foot into the office, the vice-secretary Hanamino Saya walked up in front of him, looking slightly flustered. Straightening her glasses, she thanked him silently for delivering the paperwork. With her small and slight frame, it would have been too much to handle on her own. Suddenly the phone at Hinata's table rang, and the treasurer Ayakasa Ritsu who was the closest to it picked up the phone. After listening to the person on the other line for a few minutes, he nodded his head and said something too soft for them to hear from the other side of the room. Finally putting down the receiver, he turned to Toushirou.

"It's the gardening club," he drawled lazily, doodling on his paperwork and earning a glare from Saya. She would always have to redo his paperwork later due to the fact that there were too many doodles. Toushirou sometimes wondered whether Ritsu did that on purpose just to do lesser work.

"What do they want?" Nagaya asked from across the room, flipping through a book and not even bothering to look up.

"There's some guy outside the gate loitering, and the girls are scared that it's a kidnapper."

"Tell them to call the guards," Toushirou replied, picking up a file lying on his desk and flipping through it quickly. "It's not something we should take note of unless the person's on school grounds."

"That's what I told them, boss."

Toushirou grunted softly and settled down on his seat at the end of the room. Saya walked over to her desk by Hinata's and settled down as well. He was half way through the last mountain of paperwork when the phone rang for the second time. This time Saya picked it.

"It's the guards," she said after putting down the phone. "They had a little trouble getting the guy to move."

"Why's that?" Nagaya asked, still not looking up.

"It seems that the man is looking for someone that's studying in this school, but he doesn't know the class and refuses to say the name."

"But is the guy gone?"

"According to the guards, yes."

"Then it's no longer a problem," Toushirou said, concluding the entire affair.

Soon enough the work got done and it was almost four in the afternoon. Picking up his bag, Toushirou nodded a farewell to Ritsu and Saya who were staying back to finish some left over work. Walking pass the field he could see the soccer team practice shooting their goals and the cheerleaders doing their latest routine. Soon he reached the front gate and after tapping his student card on the scanner, the machine made a bleeping sound and the gate slowly opened. Walking out as the door groaned to a halt and after a few minutes began closing again, he made his way pass a couple of shops and pass a non-descript bookstore where he usually bought his weekly magazines and manga. Turning around a corner, he passed a park and turned into another street.

Toushirou could feel someone watching him from some unknown place, and after turning around this many corners he was certain the person was indeed there. Taking a deep breath, he deftly turned around another bend in the road and broke into a run. He could hear the person follow suit behind him. Quickly, he ran across a busy street as the pedestrian light was just about to turn red. The man tried to follow, but the cars had already begun moving and Toushirou had already turned around another corner.

After running for a while, Toushirou halted to a stop, panting slightly from the excursion. Looking over his back, he could discern that the person following him had not managed to catch up with him. Walking at a more leisurely pace, Toushirou began taking a more round-a-bout way back to his home. It would take time, but it would be safer. He may not know who this stalker was, but he definitely wasn't planning on being alone with that person anywhere.

His instincts were on high alert, and Hyuuga Toushirou was one to trust his instincts.

* * *

It had been a week since the stalker incident and Toushirou still felt like he was being watched. At the beginning he had used multiple round-a-bout ways to return home, but had given up when the feelings of being watched and scrutinized like a guinea pig hadn't faded. It was quite obvious that this particular person knew where he lived so there was no use wasting his energy. Either the stalker had done his research well or had known from the very beginning where he lived.

With a frown, Toushirou analyzed his brain for any potential enemies he might have made or have had over the pass few years. Nagaya was of course, one of them, but his ego wouldn't allow him to do what he deemed a disgraceful act. And as far as he knew, he had not made any enemies that would hold a grudge big enough to resort such actions. There could still be a possibility that it was one of his more rabid fans from his 'fan club' at school -or so Hiro had slyly pointed out the other day, but Toushirou had felt a certain kind of malice in the glare directed at him, and he wasn't about to take any chances. There was one enemy he could consider, but that particular person was still in the gallows as far as he was concerned.

Walking out the grocery store with his mother's order of groceries, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he barely missed banging into a lamp post. Swearing under his breath, he concentrated on the road instead. No use musing over things he had no control over; and no use getting scolded by his mother for breaking the eggs needed for tonight's dinner. After all, winter was almost here, and he planned on having a nice winter break this term.

Turning a corner, he made his way across the busy street. He was half way across when he accidentally bumped into someone. He was about to apologize when he saw the face of the man he had collided into.

_It wasn't possible._

The man's face looked surprised at first, but soon it melted into a smirk.

"Well, long time no see-"

_He was supposed to be in jail_.

"- little brother."

"Natsume!"

* * *

Yes, it's somewhat short, but I decided to stop it there. What do you think? Good? Bad? Sucks? Rocks? Review and tell me. It only takes a moment of your time. Until the next chapter, I bid you a Happy New Year! 


	8. Chapter 8

_Yo, Ohishashiburi. Sorry it took so long to update. I came down with a case of slight writer's block and exams came, so I only had time to finish the chapter during the hols. Well, since there's not much chatter this turn, i'll just get to the reviews._

_Special thanks to Sesshoumaru Minion, flyingphilosopher, SilverWhiteDragon, Kid Rachel, moongoddess421, HitsugayaAngel, Arisuke, Truth Is What You Make Of I..., Vixen-Ra, Jay Kamiya, Vampire Lord, Sleeve of White Snow, Shichimaru Gin, JenovaJuice97, Oh So Bang, Seven Black Roses, Rasgara, OShayO, aznpinayshinigami and Lea Cat for reviewing the previous chapter. _

_Now, please enjoy the eighth chapter of Reincarnation._

_**Note: To all of you that have no idea what this chapter means, I suggest rereading the chapter before. I changed the precious chapter once, so Minako doesn't exist anymore.**_

**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 8: Betrayals

Matsumoto paddled her hair vehemently as she tried to dry the orange locks the best she could. Walking over to the table at the corner of her sparse apartment, she slung the towel over her shoulder and cracked her knuckles, looking at the intimidating pile of paperwork and homework she had assigned to her students. She sometimes wondered why she couldn't have been given the choice of being a student. But she had outgrown that, and the school definitely wouldn't be fooled. No matter how much brain washing gas Soul Society had it wouldn't be enough to allow her to masquerade as one. Thus the last choice was to be a teacher, since she had no plans on being a janitor. In all circumstances, the tenth division had been long without captain for fifteen years since Hitsugaya's death, and it didn't look like there would be anyone with a captain-class reiatsu anytime soon. She could always try working to become one, but she didn't think she would make a terrific captain. All the same, she would put the thought into consideration after she got back from the real world.

Her cheery mood dissipated slightly at that. Her current mission was to make sure that Gin was behaving properly (in other words not causing havoc plus not making any correspondence with any remaining Arrancar and/or Menos from Hueco Mundo). But in truth it wasn't that; Soul Society was afraid of Gin, much more than anyone knew. The reason for that was pretty darn simple actually, when you stop to think about it. After all, the real Aizen wasn't the kind of man that liked to keep close subordinates that were as weak as ants in his eyes. Heck, even she was afraid of him a bit, and Gin seemed to know. He kept on reassuring her that his powers had disappeared, and that she could ask Urahara about it if she wanted to.

When she had heard that, she had immediately demanded that Gin tell her what in all the seven hells he meant by that and about Urahara's involvement in all this. After beating around the bush for heaven knows how long and tons of curses later, she had actually managed to get a decent explanation. After Aizen had been miraculously defeated by Hitsugaya, Gin had abandoned fighting Matsumoto and was about to go to the Human world when Urahara had caught up with him. Gin had assured the twelfth division captain that he wouldn't cause anymore trouble and just be loitering around the Human world, and after some long hours of persuasion, metal clashing against metal and a slight bout of cursing -courtesy of Urahara who was pissed he had even made a mistake that big- they had actually managed to come up with a deal of sorts. Urahara would allow Gin to go to the real world if Gin was willing to wear one of Urahara's special reiatsu restraining gigai to turn himself into a pure blooded human. Gin had consented, and Urahara had allowed Gin to pass through the Senkaimon undetected by the Science faculty group.

Matsumoto had been satisfied with his answer only after she had called Urahara and confirmed it with him. Though the confirming part had been hard, with him denying every single thing she said and cracking jokes left and right, she had threatened to tell Yamamoto sou-taichou about a certain incident last summer. After that, getting information out of him had been a breeze, albeit the slight mutters she had heard. Whether or not they had been curses directed at her, she hadn't been able to listen over the static in the crackling connection that she and Urahara had spoke through. She hadn't been a tattle tale on the both of them to anyone yet, and she wasn't planning to. Some things after all, were better left in the dark. And having Urahara in Soul Society made the place much more interesting; what with all the parties and pranks he managed to pull off.

Getting back on the topic at hand, since there wasn't a captain in the tenth, all the paperwork duty fell to the vice-captain, which was unfortunately her. Another reason why she should have appreciated and respected Hitsugaya more. It definitely took guts and patience to tackle that never-ending mountain of monstrosity every day without fail and falter. She had almost been buried under the backlog when she had first started doing it. Somehow, throughout the passage of time, she had managed to overcome it and settled down into an agreeable routine. She had celebrated that moment with bottles of sake while singing along with an equally drunk Kyouraku and Urahara, resulting in a major migraine the next day.

Slapping her face lightly at that, she turned back to the mound of paper, determined to at least get some work done. She didn't need Yamamoto breathing down her throat over overdue paperwork.

Picking up the pen by the side of her table, she had been about to begin tackling the report on the entrance of spirits into Soul Society when the phone on the top left-hand corner of her desk let out a piercing screech. It rang and rang, the sound resonating throughout her apartment. Picking it up, she muttered a hasty hello. "Matsumoto-san," Shihou's clear alto reached Matsumoto's ears.

"What is it, Shihou-kun?" Matsumoto said.

"Have you seen Toushirou?" There was a concerned tone in Shihou's voice now, and it didn't take a genius to know what she was worried about.

"I only saw him at school, when he came to deliver his paperwork to Gi- Eisetsu-sensei. After that, I think he went back to the student body office. When or whether he had left the school, I have no idea," Matsumoto answered, reprimanding herself silently for almost calling Gin by his real name. Here in the Human world, Gin didn't want anyone else except people from Soul society to call him by his real name. It was more likely a counter measure to make sure that Soul Society couldn't trace him.

"I see," Shihou said, sounding slightly downhearted at that.

"What's wrong with Toushirou?" Matsumoto asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

"It's nothing. He's just not home yet, that's all. It's not like him to come home late." Matsumoto swore she could hear a hint of exasperation in her voice, but let it slide. Shihou was more likely worried.

"It is quite late," Matsumoto replied, looking at the clock on the wall which hands pointed to seven thirty. Looking at the darkening sky, anyone could definitely tell that it was close to night, and school ended at mid-afternoon. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone? Like a friend's house maybe? The book store?"

"Not without telling us," Shihou stated firmly. "He knows haha-ue's moods enough to know that she'd worry her head off."

"Then the only possibility would be..." Matsumoto's voice trailed off at that. There was a possible chance, no matter how far-fetched, that a Hollow had attacked Toushirou, and he wasn't well trained enough yet to face a Hollow, nor did he have anything that would help him change into a Shinigami at will yet. Matsumoto berated herself in her mind for not giving Toushirou some Soul Candy just incase. She should have been able to know that there was a possibility that something like that would happen, and she had been dumb enough to ignore that point. Suddenly, she noticed that Shihou had gone quiet as well.

"Not that that could happen," Matsumoto hastily amended. "After all, he's a master at kendo, judo and karate right? Then there shouldn't be any problem for him to fend himself against any kidnappers. I- I don't mean that it will happen or anything, it's just a suggestion and there's no way it could-"

"I'll call you back if I find Toushirou. Good night," Shihou said tersely, putting down the receiver before Matsumoto could say anything else.

Listening dazedly to the beeping sound over the phone, Matsumoto hoped that she hadn't made Shihou mad.

* * *

Shihou placed the phone back down onto the receiver, not bothering to wait for Matsumoto to reply. It had been a bit rude of her to put the phone down like that; Matsumoto would most likely think that she was angry with the older woman. She would definitely have to apologize to her later, but right now she had other things to worry about. It definitely wasn't like Toushirou to be out this late, not without telling them where he was going. The possibility of Toushirou being kidnapped was a high one, but it had never happened before, and just as Matsumoto had said he was a master in martial arts. Knowing him, Toushirou would never be swindled into following a stranger that seemed shady. 

Tokyo was an urban area, and barely had any deep gullies where he could have drowned, fallen into or been attacked by a wild animal. There was also the possibility he had been involved in a car accident, but the hospital would have called by now or the news would have said something about it. She had seen the evening news and there was no mention of an unidentified student being knocked down by a car, lorry, train or van. Another would be that he had actually forgotten to tell them he had something on tonight. She shook her head at that thought; Toushirou wasn't dumb enough to forget something as trivial as that. So what options were there left? Practically none in normal circumstances. But Tokyo was a small place, and the possibility of Toushirou meeting him was high, not to mention she hadn't told him about Natsume at all. She had known for a long time that Natsume was going to get a bail, but had hoped that the council would reconsider. She had only known that he had came out of the gallows just this morning, and had wanted to tell the family tonight (she hadn't told them earlier, just incase. She didn't want them to worry for nothing).

But now that Toushirou was missing, she had the sneaking suspicion that Natsume had something to do with this.

She had managed to tell Hecate and Hiro about Natsume's release when they had returned home, but Ryuujin and Soraya had gone to see an old college friend that was staying at Akasuke for the next few days and wouldn't be back until late at night, according to the note she found when she came back from the university. The twins had taken the news considerably well, with Hecate swearing a bit under her breath. She wasn't sure whether she should tell her parents about Natsume, but they had a right to know. After all, it was their son that they had raised for a good fifteen years before he got caught. However, it wasn't needed to tell them that their eldest son was out of jail and their second son was missing. Definitely not a good combination of news.

Suddenly the door swung open, and Hecate who had gone around asking people they knew whether that had seen Toushirou or not was bending over her knees and out of breath from running hard. Hiro was behind her doing the same, clutching the doorway for support as he tried to get the air to enter his lungs. She ushered them in, but Hecate declined and managed to pant out a bit of what they had found out.

"Jun-baba...saw...Toushirou...going with...some stranger...this afternoon," Hecate said between breathes.

"Really?" Hiroshima Junpei -or Jun-baba as they liked to call her- was the elderly owner of the Kikuneko cafe where she and Toushirou worked at part-time during the school holidays. She was a kind old lady, and would normally give them a few treats to bring back for the family whenever there were leftovers.

"Yes," Hiro said, as soon as he had regained his composure, keeping a serious expression on his face as he told them what he had Hecate had learned. "Jun-baba saw them when she was sweeping the front steps at the Kikuneko. She had seen Toushirou sometime around five in the afternoon, and had been about to call him when she had seen the person beside him. She had managed to get a glimpse of the man when he had turned to look at Toushirou. He had brown hair, a darker hue than mine but lighter than Hecate's. He was wearing a black jacket and biker trousers with a few chains hanging from them. She wasn't sure, but she swore that the man's eyes were at least the same color as yours, Shi-nee."

From the look of Hiro's eyes, she already knew who the description met. Kami must really be in a bad mood to let Toushirou and Natsume meet. "Which direction were they heading towards?"

"Eastwards, away from the house," Hecate replied this time. "I don't know about you, but Natsu-nii heading in that direction doesn't bode well. I don't know why, but I feel it in my bones."

Shihou quickly ran through a list of places that Natsume would go to in that direction in her mind. There was the Yaesu-guchi, where Natsume could push Toushirou onto the tracks. That possibility was ruled out quickly; there was no report of anything of that sort yet, and there were definitely too many people there. Someone would have noticed if Natsume had pushed the younger boy to his doom. Not to mention it just wasn't his style. He liked to torture his victims a bit before he would pity them and take their lives -killing them slowly, make the fear rise in their hearts and strip them of the hope of being rescued. He had committed two murders with the same method, both in a quiet and secluded area where there would no witnesses and enough resources to clean any evidence. Somewhere where there were a lot of supplies.

Then it hit her, like the pool in her head that had been rippling had gone still, and everything in it had reflected back clearly, understandably.

"I know where they are," Shihou said quickly, rushing over to the coat stand and shrugging on her coat. "Are you two coming?"

"Of course we are," Hiro said, bending over to retie his shoelace. "He's our brother as well, after all?"

"Not brothers?" Shihou quirked an eyebrow at that. Hiro just looked at her with the same serious expression as he said" No criminal is a brother of mine." Shihou heard Hecate sigh at that, but the younger twin didn't say anything.

"Hecate," Shihou turned to look at the girl.

"Yes?"

"Prepare your glocks and bring them with you."

"Now?"

"Yes. We'll wait for you."

"What about Tou-nii?"

Shihou's face hardened slightly at that. "He'll be able to last until we come."

"If you say so," Hecate shrugged the worried expression still on her face as she quickly took of her shoes and rushed up the stairs. Hiro turned to look at Shihou. "Why'd you ask her to do that?"

"Because we're going to need it."

* * *

Toushirou ran quickly behind a stack of wooden crates, dodging another hale of bullets as it rained down upon him. Neglecting the thundering sound the bullets were creating, he crawled through the hole in the wall behind him which he had spotted when he'd first chosen to dodge the oncoming attack at this spot. Cursing the weather slightly as the autumn cold stung his hands; he managed to make it out of the room. Running down the passageway, he could hear Natsume kick the door open and immediately ducked around the corner and pulled open the closest door. Closing it as softly as he could, he turned to look at the room for any possible escape routes. Spotting a hidden door behind another wall of boxes, he opened it to find another passage that forked into two more passages at the end, shaping into a T. Quickly closing the door behind him, minding the sound he created, he ran down the corridor and turned into the left passage, praying that it led to an exit. 

Gods, he was so dumb. He should have known following Natsume was a bad idea.

When they had bumped into each other at the pedestrian cross, he should have run as fast as he could and go back home. But no, he just had to stand there like a dazed idiot and let the older boy drag him back to the side he had came from and let the man manipulate him into coming. When Toushirou had actually broken out of his daze, Natsume had only grinned coldly at him. Even the memory of it made shivers rush up and down his spine. Bending down to his height, Natsume had whispered in his ears, "Be quiet and don't run. Just follow me and I won't do anything to you." Looking back at that memory, Toushirou remembered the many times before when he was young, Natsume had whispered to him in the same ear with the same eerie tone whenever Toushirou had been disturbing the older man. The sheer malice that had been apparent in Natsume's voice this time had rooted him to the ground, and he could only comply silently.

When they had been walking through Aoyama he had wanted to blend into the crowd and disappear, but when they reached the busier part of town Natsume had held onto his arm tightly and painfully, making Toushirou wince at the pain. Knowing from the experience of trying to break through Natsume's grip when he had been younger and reluctant to give up playing and go home, Toushirou knew that it'd be futile to even try wriggling his wrist in any attempt to escape. At that moment as he looked upwards at Natsume's impassive face, he couldn't have wished more that he had actually gained a few inches more when he had gone through puberty so to make the evident difference in height between him and his older brother a little bit less distinct.

Soon, Natsume had dragged him eastwards. They had been near Yaesu-guchi, the sounds of the train running pass at lightning speed made him uncomfortable. He knew Natsume well enough to know that it wasn't his style to kill someone by pushing them off onto the tracks, but it still didn't ease his mind at all. After all, he had no idea how much Natsume had changed; in fact, he had no idea that he had known Natsume from the beginning, not even when he was a kid. Suddenly, they had made a sharp turn into another road, and had gone down an abandoned road. At that moment it hit him, and Toushirou knew where they were going. When the shape of the abandoned warehouse had materialized, he could have gone on a major panic breakdown. This was where Natsume had murdered his accomplice and boss. Someway or another, Toushirou had managed to stop his rising unease to show on his face.

Toushirou had tried yanking his hand away then and there, but Natsume had only tightened his grip and continued dragging him towards their destination. Only when they had been inside the building did Natsume let go of his hand. Flexing his hand slightly to let the blood return, Toushirou turned to face Natsume, who had walked over to the opposite end of the wide room. It looked a lot like a loading dock; the warehouse was used to store goods for a company and was amazingly close to Yaesu-Guchi. It was so close that you could hear the train rushing on the tracks from outside.

"Let me ask you something Toushirou," Natsume said with the same cold grin, stressing the boy's name more than he liked. "Why did you turn me in?"

Toushirou didn't need to think more before answering truthfully, "It was the right thing to do."

"I thought you'd say that," Natsume's grin became wider at that, and Toushirou tensed. If it hadn't been for the sound of the click of the gun being cocked, Toushirou wouldn't have known to move. His eyes widened in shock as the bullet whizzed pass him, missing him by a hair's breath and embedding itself inside into the wall behind him. If he had been standing there, he realized, he could have been buried six feet under. Neglecting the rising terror and the voice in his head that was screaming at him to run, Toushirou turned back to face Natsume. The smoking muzzle of the gun was pointed straight at him, yet the grin on Natsume's face was still present, as wide and cold as ever.

Somewhere in his head something clicked, and he felt like he was reliving a nightmare. The 'vision'(if you could call it that) he had had two months ago. He had seen something similar on an also familiar face. He couldn't help but remember the conversation he had had with Eisetsu after Matsumoto had left the room.

_"Eisetsu, there's more." Toushirou tightened the grip on his hand as he looked at the older man solemnly. "You...had a very different expression than now."_

_"You saw?" Eisetsu's brow rose slightly. Something told Toushirou he was not very pleased with the fact that he knew._

_"Yes," Toushirou said firmly. He wouldn't lie, especially to Eisetsu. The man could detect any farce no matter how complicated, intricate or well planned._

_"What did it remind you of, Tou-kun?"_

_Toushirou hesitated a bit before answering, "Death. It was so cold, as if you took pleasure in killing that person, yet you weren't. It was as if you did it willingly, yet cried on the inside. It was eerie. It was..."_

_Crazy. Psychotic. And as much as he hated to admit, scary. Suddenly he could feel a slight pressure on his head as Eisetsu ruffled his hair._

_"Forget about it. It's in the past. It's one I'd rather keep buried for eternity. It's not that I don't regret it to some extent, the guy was a good kiddo, and his death caused her a lot of grief, whether by my hand or not. I think when I met you; I could forgive myself a little bit more. You and Matsumoto's 'friend' are very alike in many ways, but I knew that one's past, and seeing you happy...that helped my conscious a big deal."_

_"Hn," Toushirou grunted, readjusting his hair to its former spiky self. "Thanks for the compliment."_

_"Aww, you spoiled the mood," Eisetsu smiled as he said that._

"Where's your head flown off to,_ otouto_?"

Toushirou snapped out of his thoughts at that, and quickly turned his head to the right. The bullet grazed his cheek as it flew past him. Diverting his attention back to Eisetsu, he knew he couldn't slip up again. It would mean his neck if he did so. Looking at Natsume's face, he knew that the older man was dead serious, and wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

The game of cat-and-mouse had begun then. Toushirou hadn't been injured critically yet, getting out of the rain of bullets with a few scratches and bruises. Toushirou was beginning to wonder how many full magazines the man had to load the handgun with.

Toushirou ran down the corridor faster. Natsume had found the door and would catch up soon, and it was definitely more dangerous in an open corridor than anywhere else. Soon he spotted a door at the end, and quickly pushed it open, closing it back again. This time he didn't silence the sound; he was out at a loading bay on the other side of where they had entered. Facing him was a wide, open door and a road that lead through a housing area aligned with a stream. Toushirou pushed back memories at that. The bodies of the two people Natsume had killed had been dumped there.

Moving quickly, Toushirou was half-way pass the room when another shot rang through the air. This time it was so fast that he was unable to dodge, not in this wide, exposed area. A searing pain spread through the lower thigh of his right leg, and Toushirou was brought to his knees, literally. Clutching the rapidly bleeding wound and cursing his foolishness at not noting his surroundings, he turned to look upwards at the upper deck where the controls were. Natsume was standing there, gun still pointed at him. A satisfied smirk formed on his lips.

"Caught you," Natsume said, moving his hand so that the muzzle would point straight at his head. "Luckily for me too; there were only two more bullets left after that last hail. Be proud of yourself. You managed to elude me for much longer than the two before. But alas, such pleasures must end."

Toushirou gritted his teeth. If he didn't come out with something quick, he was doomed. Gods, he needed to move. If there was only one bullet left, then if Natsume missed, he would live. If he could get up and run that would be an extra bonus. After all, sitting here like a sitting duck wasn't going to help. Natsume could still come down and strangle him. He needed to concentrate on dodging first, and then he would try running.

"Goodbye, little brother," Natsume said, his finger pressing the trigger a little closer.

A shot rang through the air, clear and pristine in the cold autumn air. Yet, Toushirou was surprised to find that the bullet that he had been waiting for didn't come.

He could hear Natsume swear as his gun clattered down on the deck and slipped off the edge down onto the floor below. The older boy no longer paid any heed to him, and was looking beyond him, at the person that had fired the bullet that had disarmed him. Toushirou turned around to face the open door.

The muzzle of Hecate's glock was still smoking a bit when she moved to keep it away. Hiro ran up to him and looked at his wound, clicking his tongue slightly at the sight of the blood pouring out of the leg wound and kneeled down to inspect it. Shihou only stood at the end of the room, looking straight at Natsume with her most serious glare.

"Well, Tenshi-chi," Natsume said, smirking slightly. "You've grown. And I don't just mean physically."

Shihou's eyes narrowed at that. "Don't call me that, bastard. But then, you haven't changed at all the past seven years- still the same cynical, psychopathic nut head."

"I'm hurt," Natsume clutched his heart in mock sadness. "You say such cold things, now and then. You've gotten less cute too."

"Why thank you for the compliment."

"Wasn't planning on it being one," The grin was still there on his face, Toushirou noted. Something wasn't right, and by the way Shihou's shoulders tensed, she knew it too.

"You know, you shouldn't underestimate me," Natsume suddenly said. Suddenly, Toushirou caught sight of Natsume's hand inching closer to his jacket. At that moment, Toushirou realized something.

The consistency of the bullet fires was to closely knit to be the job of just one handgun. He was just about to warn Shihou when Natsume pulled a Beretta from behind his jacket and aimed at Shihou's head, his finger closing onto the trigger.

A shot rang through the air again for the second time, but this time it was a different person that had fired the shot.

Natsume hissed in pain and clutched onto his bleeding hand, his gun sliding off the deck like the first one. The glock in Shihou's hand was smoking slightly, but other than that, the person holding it was unscathed.

"You shouldn't underestimate me as well, dear brother," Shihou said, not taking her eyes off of Natsume. "Don't think that I didn't at least carry one on me for incase."

"And to think I thought I was the smartest in the family," Natsume snorted at that, but the glower on his face didn't disappear.

"You were, until you got twisted enough to become too overconfident."

Natsume harrumphed at that and looked away, eying Shihou out of the corner of his eye. "Looks like you win this round, Tenshi-chi."

"I told you," Shihou sighed, putting away the gun. "Don't call me by that name."

They stared at each other for a while, neither one of them taking their eyes of the other before Shihou turned away.

Toushirou looked at this foreplay silently. There was something about it that made it seem so repetitive. Maybe the same thing happened when Shihou had found Natsume and told him that it was the end of the line, but he hadn't been there to know whether that was true or not.

Hiro poked him lightly. "Nii-san, your wound isn't too critical. It didn't hit any vitals or tear any muscles, so you should have no problem with moving like you use to. I've stopped the bleeding, but I don't have enough equipment to take out the bullet, so you'll have to wait for the ambulance and have the doctor do it."

Toushirou nodded his thanks to Hiro, who got up and walked towards Hecate who was on the phone calling the police and ambulance. Then he turned around to face Shihou, who had walked towards him and was now kneeling beside him.

"You ok?" Shihou asked. Toushirou nodded again at that. The older let out a sigh of relief.

"You should have told us earlier," Toushirou stated, his brow furrowing into a frown.

Shihou just shrugged. "Didn't want you all to worry too much, that's all."

Toushirou grunted in response. Shihou was right to an extent; Soraya would have worried so much that she wouldn't allow any of them to step out of the house. But still, she could have warned him a little earlier. He wouldn't be stuck in such a mess in the first place if she had done so. But, his heart reasoned, she had come and rescued him, even though his pride was a little hurt by that, so there wasn't any problem with that.

"Toushirou," Shihou suddenly said, her head tilting to one side quizzically. "Where are the groceries I asked you to buy?"

And as the sirens howled, signaling the arrival of the ambulance and police, Toushirou could feel a vein pop at his temple.

"I was almost killed and you're asking about groceries?"

Shihou smiled at that. "Just kidding, Toushirou, just kidding."

* * *

_Wow, this chapter is definintely long. I hope it satisfies those that have waited a long time for this to be updated. Review and tell me what you think. Until the next chapter, I bid you farewell._


	9. Chapter 9

_Yes, after making the lot of you waiting so long, I have finally updated. I have been busy as of late, what with mid-years and projects galore, but that has calmed down a bit. I'm working on refining the style of my writing, so I'm trying to make it as perfect as I possibly can without forsaking good storytelling. I hope this chapter meets to your expectations. But first, I'll have to give out the thanks for reviews._

_Special thanks to FuriousDeragonmaji, Poet Bucky, Arisuke, Shuki.., Hitsugayalover, JenovaJuice97, Sleeve of White Snow, TFKeyes, SilverWhiteDragon, Rasgara and Ashyx. The amount of reviews this turn was... disappointing to me, actually. Has my writing started to take a turn for the worse? Sigh, anyway, here are a bit of replies to some of the questions asked by a few reviewers._

_FuriousDeragonmaji: You'll just have to wait and see..._

_And that's all. Please Enjoy the ninth chapter of Reincarnation of Ice!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, its timeline and its characters, however plot and OCs of this fanfic do belong to me._

* * *

**Reincarnation of Ice**

Chapter 9: Resurfacing Point

He was sitting on a porch outside a traditional Japanese house. Looking around, he could see the light shrubbery inside the lawn. The wall surrounding the house looked old, and the paint was scraped off in a couple of areas, revealing the red stone bricks beneath it. The sky above him was a calm azure blue, and the clouds dotting it were passing by lazily. Time seemed slow, and his head felt oddly hazy. He noticed that he wore a light cotton yukata that was patched in several places. It was sleeveless, like the ones he used to wear as a child whenever he went to his grandparents' place. Much to his chagrin, he seemed so much smaller than he was now. It all felt like a dream, of one of the moments in his childhood that he had forgotten maybe. The setting seemed unfamiliar, yet oddly familiar.

He heard a movement to his right, and turned his head to look in that direction. A girl that looked older than him, and unfortunately a few feet taller than him, moved to sit beside him. She carried a plate of fresh watermelons, cut into the shape of a triangle. Her black hair was tied into two pigtails, and her brown eyes turned to look at him. Her mouth formed into a smile, and she placed the plate of fruit between them. Her mouth move to form words, and in his half dazed state, he had to strain his ears to hear what she was saying.

"Ne, Shirou-chan, look. Obaa-chan cut them for us. And yes, they're from your patch. You take such good care of the watermelons that they grow so big."

He could feel his lips move to make an answer. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he could hear himself say. "And don't call me that, bed-wetter Momo." His voice sounded dim and fuzzy, like that of an old record from bygone days. His hand moved by its own to pick up a slice of the watermelon, and he bit down on the red flesh. The juice flowed into his mouth, sweet and rich. He could feel the seeds of the watermelon in his mouth, and expertly pushed them forward and spitted them out consecutively. He continued to bite at the watermelon greedily, swallowing the flesh and juice but being careful not to swallow the seeds, spitting them out afterwards. The girl did the same as well, though not at the same speed as he. They ate in peaceful silence, and he took the moment to analyze his thoughts.

He hadn't commanded or willed himself to speak or make a move for the watermelon, he had just done it, like something he was suppose to do. His mind felt strangely detached from his body, as if they weren't connected. Looking at the girl, he thought hard. She seemed familiar, too familiar. But he couldn't seem to place a name on her just yet. Thinking as hard as he could, he searched for one. He remembered that he had called her Momo just now. Then it came to him. Her name was Hinata Momo; or was it? Another name flashed through his head, a Hinamori Momo. But that wasn't correct either.

_::Wake up:: _

Was he being paranoid or something? Both the names seemed to fit and yet they didn't match up. A person couldn't have more than one true name, so he must have messed up somewhere. Both the names felt oddly right though, but he was unable to understand why. The girl turned to look at him again, but he paid no attention to it. He was thinking too much.

The girl was talking, and from the movement of his lips he could tell that he was replying to whatever she said. But the scene was starting to change, turning distorted and hard to see. The sounds around him, the girl's voice and his, started fading as well. He could feel hints of frostbite tingling at his skin, and a cold gust blew pass him. The cold nipped at him, but not in a bad way. It was inviting, refreshing, welcoming. _What is going on? _His mind felt like it was slipping away, slipping into the darkness._ Am I losing my mind? _

_::Wake up::_

The scene before him changed altogether, and he found himself in a different place altogether. It was a vast land, filled with whites and blues. Snow fell from the heavens like the soft, gentle petals of the cherry blossoms. A small creek flowed in a sinuous line, like a lazy snake. He could hear light rumbling sounds, coming from the end of the creek. Mounds of beautifully shaped ice speckled the surrounding area, and in those ices there were pictures -moving pictures. Looking into one of them, he saw himself as a six-year-old, playing in the snow with his siblings. In the next one slightly downstream off the creek, he saw himself when he was five, this time sitting on the old sakura tree in his grandparents' backyard, watching the clouds roll by, looking for one in the shape of a watermelon.

He noted that these were memories, memories of his life from the time he had the ability to remember. Walking even more downstream, he saw that the creek eventually entered a large cave. The entrance to the cave however, was sealed off by a thick wall of ice. But the ice wall was cracked in certain places here and there, and through them he could peep at what was inside. Looking through one of the fissures, he could see many more mounds of ice, and at the mouth of the creek it flowed into a wide, clear blue lake. The lake water was dark, telling him of its deep bed. He swore he had sighted a long serpentine creature moving in it. The strangest thing however, was the biggest mound of ice located in the center of the lake, on a flat plane of frozen land. Squinting, he could see something encased within it. Looking harder, what he finally saw was... an exact mirror image of him.

_What the..._

_::WAKE UP::_

* * *

Toushirou sat up with a start, and almost fell off the bed in the process. Looking around he saw that he was in his own room. The grandfather clock downstairs chimed seven times, telling him that it was only seven in the morning. A bluish white light filled his room and created shadows in certain corners where the shelves in his room blocked it. His sheets were resting on the floor, more likely from his sudden jolting movement. 

He could hear Shihou downstairs in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Looking out of the window that was situated beside his bed, he could see Hiro practicing his kata for kendo, with his father and mother watching over him. He could hear Hecate in her room -which was beside his- finishing her home more like, he guessed from the light pencil-scratching-paper sounds he could hear; he knew she hated having to do it last minute, and preferred to do the work first before enjoying the first day of winter break. That reminded him; he had an appointment with Hinata today, at the Hibiya Park.

The last remnants of sleep gone, he got up and made his way to the bathroom down the hallway. After cleaning up, he changed into a light blue collared shirt and a pair of navy green slacks and tousled his hair into its usual style before going downstairs for breakfast. The smell of miso and natto wafted from the living room, tantalizing his taste buds. Shihou's cooking was always good, no matter what method she used. After downing his breakfast, he turned to look at the clock in the hall. It read seven forty-five. Hinata had said to be there at eight sharp.

Knowing full well how long it took for him to get to Hibiya Park, he slipped on his winter jacket and shoes and wrapped his scarf around his neck before making his way out of the house. Hinata had chosen a spot that was actually quite close to their home, so he was going to walk there. As he walked, he let himself think, more so about the dream he had had last night.

That dream hadn't been very comforting. It couldn't have possibly been a premonition; he was always unable to see anything that was related to him directly, and that was definitely something of his own. The dream had been too real, too detailed for it to have been a normal dream. It wasn't exactly a memory as well, considering he had no recollection of it. In the dream he had most likely been about eight years old, so there was no possible way it was his. But then, he couldn't ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that was telling him he hadn't been eight in that memory at all.

There was also a possibility that it could have been a fiction of his imagination. Sometimes when he was too stressed or excited before sleeping, he did tend to have horribly weird dreams, so that dream was most likely one of those. But something still didn't seem right to it. The dream had been somewhat chilling at the end, when he had seen the mirror image of himself encased in ice. It was like telling him that he was going to end up that way as well. Pushing back that thought, he finally decided that it was more likely because of the recent fiasco with Natsume that had done him in, that's all.

Soon, he reached the entrance to the park and went in. It was a nice park, with a few lakes and nice, well maintained greenery and paths. Looking around, he finally spotted Hinata beside one of the more main lakes. She was holding a paper bag, kneeling by the edge of the lake and feeding the ducks crowding around it. When she saw him, she stood up and turned to look at him. He noticed that she wore a light green colored dress under her knee-length jacket and red wool scarf and high white stockings with shoes. She smiled when he was close enough for him to see it. That smile reminded him vaguely of the one he had seen her direct to him in that strange dream. He brutally crushed the memory of it; he didn't need to think about it now.

"Hello, Shirou-chan," She said cheerily, her breath misting in the frigid air. "How's your leg? It doesn't hurt anymore does it?"

"Of course it doesn't, silly bed-wetter Momo," He replied shortly, moving to stand beside her as she continued to feed the ducks. He knew she was worried that what had happened recently had affected him badly, after all she was his best friend, but he didn't want to cause her to do so too much. He didn't like seeing her worried; it didn't suit her happy, bright nature. He took the bag from her and pulled out the contents -bread crumbs, he noticed- and threw them all into the pond. Hinata made no objection at all, and just watched the ducks. He remembered suddenly that she had made no objection when he had called her a bed-wetter. _That's strange._

"Something's on your mind isn't it, bed-wetter Momo," he said, turning to look at her pointedly. She only smiled back at him and said, "Let's take a walk around the park."

He could see that her smile was strained at the edges, but made no mention of it when he followed her as she began to make her way down the path. Matching his stride with hers, they walked in a comfortable silence, each thinking their own thoughts. Toushirou looked at her from the corner of his eye. From the way her lips thinned into a tight smile, he could tell that she was worried or agitated about something. Her asking him to meet her here at this early of a time was most definitely suspicious, and she was also being extremely dodgy. A thought came to him, and he wondered whether or not she felt guilty over his encounter with Natsume, and was about to say something when she started speaking as well.

"Ne, Shirou-chan," she said, and he could hear a hint of worry in her voice. Something was definitely wrong. "Do you remember the question you asked me after you came back from the hospital from that hit-and-run accident? The one where you asked me if I remembered anything strange?"

Toushirou felt his heart stop for a moment. He had a sinking feeling that he knew what she was meaning, but keeping his voice neutral, he answered. "What about it?"

This time she turned to look at him straight in the eye. "It was true, wasn't it?" She started. "All the things that had happened that day; the monster, you bleeding and on the brink of death, Nagaya-san getting eaten by it, everything. It was all real wasn't it?'

Toushirou hesitated, wondering whether he should tell her, whether or not she would break down when she knew it was all real. But still, the way she looked at him, so desperately, made him reply, "Yes."

Hinata's eyes widened dramatically as the answer registered in her mind and she looked away. They had stopped moving altogether, standing right in the middle of the path. People milled past them, some jogging, some walking, and some making friendly conversation with the person standing beside them, but he paid no attention to them. What worried him now, was Hinata. He couldn't see her expression for a long time; her eyes were looking away from him.

Toushirou had had enough of her silence. Turning her around to face him, he looked at her sharply. "Look, if you don't like what I just said then forget about it. It's not something that is important for you to know. If it makes you feel any better, than just don't think about it. It doesn't matter, you hear."

Hinata looked surprised at that, but suddenly her eyes hardened with determination. She was about to say something, when a loud roar resonated through the park. He and Hinata both turned to look in the direction of Otomesando. A heavy reiatsu pressed against him, and the scent of a Hollow assaulted his senses. From the way the people by him walk past at the same pace they had done before, they hadn't heard it. That was reasonable. Not many people could see or hear a Hollow, let alone Shinigami. Hinata looked back at him, fear bright in her eyes.

Toushirou clicked his tongue. Of all the times for a Hollow to appear it had to be now. Matsumoto was away as well from what he remembered her telling him. Something about an errand back at Soul Society. Taking his hands off Hinata, he quickly pulled out the gikongon dispenser that Matsumoto had given him from his back pocket and swallowed one of the pills as it slipped out of the bottle through the dragon head. It reminded him of a candy bottle, but he had no choice in the matter. There was simply no time to think about face at the moment.

He could feel himself separate from his body, and at the next moment he stood beside it in Shinigami apparel. His sword was strapped to his back using a sash that Matsumoto had given him, due to the fact that it was unfortunately too long for him to put through his obi, otherwise it would always get in his way whenever he wanted to cross his arms. And he definitely did not want that to happen. Looking at Hinata, he could see her staring straight at him, her expression one of deep shock. He didn't have time to tell everything to her now. Turning to look at the gikon in his body, he commanded to it, "Take Hinamori back home, then come back here and wait for me by that tree over there, got it?"

The gikon just nodded.

Glancing at Hinata one more time, he used some of his reiatsu to send him leaping into the air. Using the wind as leverage, he leaped as far as he could onto the closest building. Through jumps and leaps that would have been impossible for a normal human to do, he made his way to the middle of the street where the Hollow was. As he moved to hide behind one on the roofs of one of the higher buildings surrounding it, he scanned the road for the Hollow. True enough it stood there, its garish body large and out of place. It was a huge one, with the standard four limbs and an additional two arms. It stood erect on both feet, and the mask hiding the shadows of its face was shaped into that of a bull's.

This one was going to be annoying, from what he could tell.

With a quick jump of the building, he used the movement to unsheathe the sword from its scabbard and a made downward diagonal swing at its mask. But the Hollow had anticipated the attack, and put up one of its hands to fend it off. The white bone covering it cracked slightly, but held against his sword. Toushirou used it to push off the Hollow, moving away from it and avoiding the hand that was about to strike him. Landing lightly on his feet and bending his knees to avoid breaking them, he held his sword in a ready stance.

"Ah, a little Shinigami this time," the Hollow suddenly said, its eyes glowing with a strange awareness. Toushirou couldn't help but bristle slightly at the comment. "Have you Shinigami decided to underestimate me? After I have already eaten two of your kind?"

Toushirou didn't reply, angling his sword instead and letting out a battle cry as he lunged forward. The Hollow moved to block the attack again, but he had been prepared for that, and landed on it instead and made a quick swing at the shoulder of the arm. It came off easily this time, and the Hollow howled in pain as blood gushed out of the wound. Moving quickly he dodged another attack made by the Hollow. He only touched the ground briefly before he lunged again, this time making a move to cut off the other arm. But before he could, something fast flew through the air, trying to pierce him. Making a soft noise of irritation he did a back flip to avoid it, but the limb followed him. Bringing up his sword in a fluid motion, he did his best to block it as it pushed him backwards. A tentacle, he saw, as he completed the flip and skidded backwards as he landed on the ground, heavily this time.

"So, little Shinigami," it said hissing, the saliva dripping from its mouth. "You had the power to back up the stance after all. I will enjoy killing and eating you!"

The tentacle that had attacked him coiled back towards the Hollow, and Toushirou could now see that it was connected to its back. More tentacles were sprouting out from it as well, its tips fine and razor sharp. He could see that this wasn't going to go as well as he planned. The Hollow was the one that made the first move this turn, its hands and tentacles out to catch him in its deadly grasp. Toushirou moved as swiftly as he could to block off all the attacks, but his training with Matsumoto hadn't included what to do when you had many versatile, projectile-like limbs flying at you in an attempt to butcher you.

Suddenly, one of the tentacles passed his guard, and flew straight at him, aiming at his heart. Everything seemed to move slowly then. He could feel himself trying to move out of harm's way, but in the back of his mind he knew he wouldn't be able to clear the attack. A new clarity filled his head, taking over his senses. His vision blurred quickly as he moved at an amazing speed. Soon, he had reappeared behind the Hollow, his sword swinging downward for the final blow. The Hollow didn't even see it coming as the sword cut clean through its body. An unearthly shriek pierced through the air, and Toushirou had to refrain from closing his ears.

As he crouched in the spot where the Hollow had once, the last of its particles disintegrating in the air, he could feel the clarity that had made him move at that speed disappear. Standing to full height, Toushirou frowned. What that had been about he wasn't sure, but it had definitely saved him from certain death. Still, it unsettled him that his body had moved by its own self. There were too many references to the dream of ice. Shaking his head, he couldn't help but feel that he was really getting overly superstitious.

He would have to sort this all out later, he thought as he sheathed his sword back into the scabbard, and walked back towards the direction of the park. His mind wandered back to Hinata, and the look she had given him before the Hollow had interrupted. Something told him that he was in for a whole pot hole of trouble.

He sighed wearily.

He was going to have to do a lot of explaining when he next met her.

* * *

_Well, the chapter is shorter than the last, but I still hope that it would please the most of you. Please review, even if what you want to say is good or bad, just do so. It gives me the inspiration to go on. The next chapter will come up as fast as I can manage. If there are any dramatic errors in this chapter, it would be my fault, since I'm posting this before my betas reply. Until the next chapter, I bid you a good day!_


	10. Author note

I'm really sorry, people, but this isn't an upload. I'm going to declare hiatus for Reincarnation of Ice as well as Honor in Blood. I haven't been feeling up to it lately, and I'm running into dead ends. It's not that I don't have an idea what to write, it's just that I can't seem to portray it the way I want to. So at least until I get the feel for an idea again, I don't think I'll be posting for now. I hope you can wait…… I also know that putting author notes only aren't exactly allowed, but I do need a break from writing. The story more likely sucks anyway… But for you that don't think so, then… oh, who am I kidding? But anyway, just because I'm declaring hiatus doesn't mean I'm not writing it anymore. I'm just going to have to find my feel back, that's all. But until then, there are many nicer stories than mine that you can go and read.

Yours truly,

RkInu241


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